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 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 MoreFBT And Entertainment Webinar By The ATO
Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) is a tricky topic so the best place to take advice from is the Australian Taxation Office. Luckily they are holding a free webinar on the topic of FBT and entertainment. This is perfectly timed for the festive season. If you’re an employer and provide entertainment to your employees during the festive season, or at any other time of the year, you should attend the webinar. The topics will include: when the provision of food, drink or recreation may be entertainment whether entertainment is subject to fringe benefits tax (FBT) or exempt from it the methods available for valuing entertainment fringe benefits common errors employers make relating to FBT and entertainment where to find more help and guidance The webinar will he held on Thursday 12 December at 2pm – 3pm AEDT. The webinar is likely to be booked out* but if you register you will be able to access a recording of the session. In the meantime, if you need some information about FBT and Christmas events, take a look at the factsheet provided by the ATO. *If booked out, don’t forget to register anyway so you can see the recording...
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