Raft of tax concessions now available for companies with turnover < $10 million
For the current 2017 income tax year, the small business entity threshold has been increased to $10 million turnover (for the 2016 income tax year the small business entity threshold was only $2 million).
Therefore, such small business entities (e.g. entities with a total turnover of less than $10 million) will qualify for the following concessions in the 2017 income tax year:
- Companies will have a reduced corporate tax rate of 27.5% (instead of the 2016 tax rates of 30% (for companies with turnover of more than $2 million) or 28.5% (for companies with turnover of less than $2 million);
- $20,000 instant asset write-off (i.e. an immediate write-off for depreciable assets costing less than $20,000);
- Access to the small business depreciation pool (i.e. accelerated depreciation rates of 15% or 30%) for depreciable assets costing $20,000 or more;
- Simplified trading stock rules (i.e. no need to do a stocktake if there are no significant variations in stock levels in a year); and
- Shorter amendment period for tax assessments for taxpayers and the ATO (i.e. 2 years instead of 4 years).
Note however that access to the small business CGT concessions will remain limited to entities with either a total turnover of less than $2 million (i.e. this test is not increased to the $10 million turnover threshold) or total net asset value of less than $6 million.
The increase in the small business entity threshold to $10 million offers significant tax saving opportunities for businesses – please contact us if your business has a turnover of less than $10 million so that we can discuss in more detail how your business may benefit.
Beware of tax scams when using social media
The ATO is warning taxpayers to be careful of what information they share on social media, particularly because scammers may use that information to impersonate such a user of social media and send scam emails, SMS or social media messages purporting to be from the user.
With cybersecurity threats becoming an everyday occurrence, you should ensure that your staff and clients keep their personal information (e.g. user IDs, passwords, TFNs) secure and that they do not indiscriminately click on downloads, hyperlinks or open attachments in unsolicited or unfamiliar emails, SMS or social media.
Please speak to us if you are interested to hear about further ways you can safeguard your business against cybersecurity risks and how to recognise scam emails pretending to be from the ATO.
Due date for lodgement of SMSF annual returns now 30 June 2017
The ATO has extended the due date for lodgement of SMSF annual returns for the 2016 income tax year to 30 June 2017 (the due date is usually 15 May).Nexia Australia requested this extension because of the extensive amount of work involved in preparing for the major superannuation changes that apply from 1 July 2017.