News/Blog

It's the new year, so make a new year's resolution to take back control of your finances. Andrew gives some tips on how to make that start. To find out more about our financial planning services click here.

One of the most common questions we are asked by individuals, sole traders and small businesses is how much they can claim for their work vehicle(s), what is tax deductible?, and how to provide evidence. Under Australian tax law, you are able to claim any employment-related car expenses if you incur them while using your own vehicle to perform your job as an employee.If you own a business, claiming expenses and how you calculate them depends on how your business is set up – if you are a sole trader, company, partnership or trust, the type of vehicle you use, and specifically how the vehicle is used. There was a shake-up regarding motor vehicle expenses claims in 2015 when the ATO changed the regulations and new rules were brought into play. Now, there are only two ways to calculate your motor vehicle expenses: Cents per kilometre You can claim up to 5,000 business kilometres per car per year and from 30 June 2018, the rate increased to 68 cents per kilometre regardless of the size of your engine. Written evidence is not required to be kept, however [...]

Wishing you a Happy New Year! We have had a busy and exciting 2018, bringing all our new services under one roof. Earlier this year, we launched our new branding, our new website and our insurance and financial planning divisions of Taxpro – Insurepro and Mi Wealth. More recently, Taxpro announced its expansion into the mortgage and finance sector with a specialist in-house broker and in the new year we will also be launching a new legal division! We would like to thank you for all your wonderful support this year, and wish you and your families a very safe, happy and enjoyable festive season, and may the new year bring good health, wealth, and happiness to all. Please note that our office will be closed until 9am Monday 7th January 2019.   Contact us 

Do you have a fantastic new business idea but not sure how to set it up for tax purposes? Let us guide you through your options. How your business structure is established can impact on how tax is paid, who can make important decisions, ages, how profits and losses are shared, legal obligations and how much it will cost you! There are four different types of setup: Sole trader– the simplest form of business structure. It is also relatively easy and inexpensive to start and maintain. Pty Ltd Company– a separate legal entity from its owners and needs to be registered with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. Set up costs are higher and the company must lodge its own return, however it offers your personal assets protection from liability and only your company assets are at risk in the event of any legal actions and company debts. Partnership– when two or more people jointly in business with the view of making a profit. And each partner is individually liable for debts incurred by the other partners. This means you have unlimited liability, unlike [...]

We are receiving an increasing number of calls from worried clients about an ATO phone scam that has been doing the rounds for a number of months. Each month, the scammers are becoming more sophisticated, which has led to the ATO releasing a fresh warning this month as a reported value of losses hit $830,000 in November alone! Reports from victims say the scam phone calls are made from landlines; a pre-recorded message, that makes threatening demands to comply with a series of instructions or you will be arrested. There may also be a three-way conversation with the scammer, the victim and another scammer pretending to be the tax agent, pushing the victims to transfer money. They can also ask you to pay through a variety of methods including iTunes cards. This should be an instant red flag - no government organisation will ask you to pay in gift cards. Scamwatch, a website run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has provided this advice: How to protect yourself from scams: If you receive a phone call or email out of the blue [...]