Protect Yourself Against ATO Scams
Death and taxes. Not only are both certain to happen, they also both scare people, and quite understandably. Phone scams are all too common these days, and clever scammers are targeting the scared and naïve, attempting to intimidate vulnerable people into paying a non-existent tax debt over the phone. How do you spot a phone scam and how can you protect yourself? Whilst ‘The Taxman’ is sometimes cast as the villain, the Australian Taxation Office does respect your privacy and safety. If you have any kind of debt owing to the ATO, the first you hear about it will not be an aggressive automated message or phone call threatening to carry out an arrest warrant. Scammers impersonating the ATO usually demand payment using wire transfer, which is almost impossible to trace, and will often leave a VOIP number should a message be left. The ATO, or any other government department or financial institution will never request a wire transfer of funds, and will, provide you with an Australian land line phone number. Should a payment be required, you will receive the details of legitimate and traceable transaction facilities. You should never send money via wire transfer to anyone you...
Read MoreSo, Bitcoin Is Not Real Money?
As the whole world talks about Bitcoin and more and more people are going crazy about this new kind of money, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) decided to act like a wet blanket. In short, the ATO decided the crypto-currency is NOT real money and it should not be perceived and treated as if it is. Instead, Bitcoin is being compared to a barter transaction and should ultimately be treated as such. While all this may be very well for the ATO and their money regulation methods and processes, many ask themselves what the consequences will be. According to the specialists, the new regulation will not affect individual Bitcoin users to a great extent, but it will have a serious (and absolutely negative impact) on the business, especially on those businesses trading with Bitcoin and earning from its growth. From now on, Bitcoin will experience the effect of the so-called ‘double-whammy’ GST payment. This means that businesses who trade services in exchange for Bitcoin will charge 10% GST on them, the same as usual. However, from now on they will have to pay another 10% GST when converting Bitcoin to ‘real’ money. On the other hand, those who say that the individual...
Read MoreATO Templates To Help You With Your Records
Tax time is looming and there’s a good chance you’re experiencing a mild dose of overwhelm, and possibly some avoidance? It’s easy when you’re running a business, to put aside those tasks that aren’t urgent, that you don’t completely understand or that you just really, really don’t like doing. Don’t worry, not many people enjoy the bookkeeping side of their business, especially when there are more fun and more urgent things to do. However, keeping your finances in some sort of check is essential to ensure the success of your business, not just in understanding your income and expenses, but also having a grasp on your cashflow so you can budget appropriately and not waste funds. It also saves you a heap of time and money when tax time rolls around. Keeping good records of your income, expenditure, stock and other business related finances keeps your mind at ease and makes dealing with the ATO far more stressful than it needs to be. If you’re outsourcing your bookkeeping, accounting and lodging of tax returns, good record keeping will enable your bookkeeper or accountant to do their job with little stress, and reduce the number of times they need to...
Read MoreThe Cash Economy And Your Business
It used to be that you submitted your tax return and associated paperwork and that was all there was to it. The taxman took your word and you either paid your tax or received your cheque. Nowadays the taxman is using systems to identify businesses that are not reporting income as well as operating businesses which have not registered with the Australian Tax Office (ATO). How? Tax authorities are getting smarter and tracking credit card transactions of almost 1 million businesses. The ATO now has the ability to collect data from the major banks and credit card providers and electronically match it with their records. This Credit and Debit Card Data Matching Program is actually now in its 5th year of operation and allows the ATO to track down businesses operating in the illegal cash economy. In the 2013-2014 tax year, they plan to match more than 640 million transactions from sources such as banks, share registries, employers, merchants, states and territories and government departments. They then intend to follow up with 245,000 reviews and audits to try to catch those unaware. Their intention is to create a level playing field for businesses as well as detecting non-compliance. Their...
Read MoreThe End of Tax Returns?
For many, tax returns can be a nuisance, a chore, tiresome or just plain frustrating. Working in the field of financial management, I understand that more than anyone as I see the troubles it can bring to those who find it tedious or difficult. Well what if I told you that filing your end of year tax return could be a thing of the past. You heard me right! The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has been developing their technology behind the scenes that will generate tax returns for those with relatively simple tax affairs. It will receive the routine information such as salary and wage income, bank interest, shares and dividends and then would send the tax return to the individual to approve. This will replace the task of having to prepare and lodge a return each year. The ATO estimates that this could essentially assist approximately 1.4 million people next year and with some work, could be rolled out to 4.5 million taxpayers Australia wide. Unfortunately due to the complexity of many tax returns, it would not be suitable for all taxpayers. Australia would not be the first country to offer this but they would be following in...
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