Tax related email scams are on the rise.  Since June, reports from the public of phishing scams have quadrupled from 3,586 to 15,441 compared with the same period last year!

The Australian Taxation Office advises people to be vigilant of tax related emails that mimic its publications.  Think twice and then think again before clicking on links and attachments in tax related emails or on social networking sites.

The Australian Taxation Office will NEVER send taxpayers an email asking them to confirm, update or disclose confidential information including their name, date of birth, address, passwords or credit card details.

BE VIGILANT – be aware of tax related email scams!

Pay as You Go Income Tax Instalments (PAYG)

Taxpayers with fluctuating income may want to vary upcoming individual income tax instalments for March and/or June quarters under the PAYG system.  As economic growth is tipped to slow over the coming year your income may be reduced, hence a downwards adjustment could be appropriate.

Of course, these instalments are pre-payments of your expected 2013/2014 income tax liability and generally based on the previous year’s taxable income as disclosed in your taxation return.

Any downwards adjustment should be discussed with your advisor, as penalties apply if the variation results in you paying an amount that is less than 85% of the actual tax payable on your business and investment income for the financial year.

It is essential that any variations contemplated are made prior to the lodgement and payment date of the instalment.  The Australian Taxation Office will not accept any variations post that date!

Advantages of FBT Statutory Formula Method

Now that the recently elected government has decided to jettison the abandonment of the statutory formula method of calculation of fringe benefits tax for company and salary packaged motor vehicles (as proposed by the previous government), it is worth contemplating the advantages of this method over the operating cost method.

The statutory formula method is:

Private use friendly

The statutory formula method does not distinguish between business and private use, hence this method does not penalise those with high private use of the company or salary packaged vehicle!

Under the operating cost method the calculation of fringe benefits tax is based solely on the level of private use – the more private use the greater the FBT liability!

Record keeping

The statutory formula method includes all kilometres, whether business or private, hence there is no requirement to keep records to distinguish between business and private – all that is required is the opening and closing kilometre readings for the FBT year and the base cost of the motor vehicle.

The operating cost method would not only require log book kilometres, but records of the usual motor vehicle expenses:

• Fuel
• Insurance
• Registration
• Services
• Repairs
• Lease payments

Further, for owned motor vehicles the calculation of depreciation and imputed interest would need to be calculated as part of ‘operating costs’.

Tax concessions

The statutory formula method allows the base value of the motor vehicle to be discounted by one third after four full FBT years!

Further, although the statutory rates are changing to a standard 20%, usually the more overall kilometres travelled the lower the statutory rate.

General

The use of the statutory formula method is certainly less onerous in terms of record keeping, therefore convenient for taxpayers and accountants.  Notwithstanding the advantages outlined above, clients would be well advised to make the comparison between statutory formula and operating cost methods, particularly with higher cost, low private use motor vehicles.  Although the operating cost method is likely to yield a better fringe benefits tax outcome, only 30% of taxpayers use it; even with relatively high business use (which would be exempt from FBT) taxpayers tend to prefer the convenience of the statutory formula method.

Those preparing and lodging instalment and business activity statements (IAS/BAS) should be aware the late lodgement penalties increased in the past financial year from $110 a penalty unit to $170 a penalty unit.

It is important to understand that a penalty unit is a 28 day period or part thereof!  That is, if you fail to lodge your IAS/BAS by the due date but, for example, lodge a few days late, then this represents one penalty unit and the penalty amount which will be levied is calculated as follows:

Obviously, if lodgement is later than 28 days, then the penalty is increased depending on how late lodgement is, up to a maximum of 5 units. That is, the maximum penalty may be:

The definition of a small PAYGW remitter is one with PAYGW deductions of less than $25,001 – this threshold represents 3 employees (any employer proprietors are included in the 3), earning about $52,000 gross each!

You will see how easy it is for small class to become medium class.  The assessable income or annual turnover threshold of $1million will also see apparently small businesses classified as medium with the significant increase in penalties!

Fortunately, registered tax agents lodging on behalf of clients are, in some cases but not all, afforded concessional extended lodgement deadlines.

Traditionally, at the end of the day there is a significant imbalance in the amounts within husband and wife superannuation accounts due, of course, to the stereotypical roles of breadwinner and homemaker for much of their respective working lives.

The introduction of spouse superannuation contribution splitting some years ago was advantageous for two reasons:

• effectively it meant a couple could have twice as much in low taxation superannuation; and
• double the amount which could be withdrawn tax free!

With the capping of contributions to superannuation, the amount which can be held in superannuation is unlimited and in our opinion the next couple of decades will see balances swell to $millions as the younger generations realise 15% taxation is a most attractive tax rate for investments, with proceeds tax free on attaining 60 years of age.

While concessional (deducted) contributions are capped at $25,000 or $35,000, depending on age, we would expect the capping to be relaxed over the next year or so.  Further, $150,000 per annum may be tipped into superannuation on a non concessional (undeducted) basis.

Returning to superannuation splitting, the after tax concessional contribution (i.e. 85%) may be transferred each year to your spouse to maximise the available balance.  Between 55 and 60 years of age, both would then be able to withdraw the first $180,000 each of the taxable component on a tax free basis!

Of course, the more funds that can be placed in superannuation, the better the ultimate outcome.