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The ATO is reminding taxpayers that have a residential rental property, to take care when making claims for ‘second-hand depreciating assets’ used in their properties. In most cases, these are items that existed in the taxpayer’s property when they purchased it, or were in their private residence (which they later rented out), such as: Since […]

The ATO recommends that trustees of self-managed super funds (‘SMSFs’) thinking about investing in crypto assets should seek professional advice from a licensed financial adviser. There are organisations who offer trustees help to set up a fund or use their existing fund to invest in crypto assets.  However, the ATO notes that some of these […]

There are various courses of action available to the ATO when trustees of self-managed super funds (‘SMSFs’) have not complied with the super laws, including applying administrative penalties. A number of factors determine the amount of the administrative penalty, including: For example, if an SMSF contravenes a provision in relation to borrowings during the 2021/22 […]

The Administrative Appeal Tribunal (‘AAT’) has held that a taxpayer could not claim $91,239 of input tax credits (‘ITCs’) at least partly because it lodged the relevant BASs more than 4 years too late. Specifically, the GST Act operates such that, if an extension of time to lodge a BAS has not been granted prior […]

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has held that a builder was unable to receive a refund of GST incorrectly charged on the sale of a residential premises that had been rented for just over five years since construction was complete. The taxpayer claimed the GST charged on a unit was charged in error, on the basis […]

In another recent legislative change, the eligibility age to make a downsizer contribution into superannuation has been reduced to 55 from 1 January 2023. This further reduces the downsizer eligibility age, which changed from 65 to 60 from 1 July 2022. From 1 January 2023, eligible individuals aged 55 years or older can choose to […]

A raft of enforcement activity has been undertaken across the country by the ATO-led Serious Financial Crime Taskforce, including the execution of search warrants and issuing of warning letters. At 31 December 2022, the ATO took compliance action on more than 53,000 clients and stopped approximately $2.5 billion in fraudulent GST refunds from being paid […]

An individual’s transfer balance cap (‘TBC’) determines the maximum amount they can commit to a retirement phase interest in their super fund, such as an account-based pension, without being subject to penal taxation.    When the TBC concept was introduced with effect from 1 July 2017, it was initially $1,600,000.  It was increased by $100,000 […]