Accounting software is constantly taking advantage of new and improved technologies including automation and artificial intelligence. But these are features that need to be understood and activated before they can be of use. To optimize your time and obtain the best results from your accounting software it’s best to aim for as much automation as possible.

Bank feeds have revolutionised the way we now reconcile our bank and credit card accounts. A bank feed just means that your bank or financial institution uploads your bank transactions into your software on a regular basis (usually daily). Even transactions from other applications like PayPal and Stripe can be set up to feed into your software. Having your transactions fed into your software removes the need for laborious data entry. The ability to quickly match transactions based on machine learning and on rules you set up, assists in speedier reconciliations of your data and more up to date information for your reporting. Some software allows for cash coding so even small businesses are not weighed down with intricate coding.

Creating bank rules that allow you to automatically match bank transactions is another way of speeding up the process. For example you might set up a rule that every time a description includes the term “Officeworks”, the expense is automatically coded to the stationery expense. Being mindful of using meaningful and identifiable bank references through internet banking can assist in getting the most out of your bank rules. There can also be an advantage in having a business credit card as these tend to highlight suppliers names in the transaction listing. Even recording transfers between your bank accounts and credit cards can be automated with bank rules. Regular loan payments, wages and drawings can all be set up using bank rules.

So utilizing these features in your online software enables up to date information hence more control over your time and your cash. But automation comes with a downside. When using rules or relying on machine learning there’s always a larger margin for error of mis-coding, and once an error is made it tends to repeat. So importantly, you should invest a little bit of the time you save into a quick review of your general ledger and profit and loss statements to identify and correct any errors. The rest of the time saved is all yours.

Other related blogs:

What are bank feeds?
Choosing the right accounting software

Author: Kay Giles
Email: kay@faj.com.au

Further study can improve an individual’s knowledge and skills which will hopefully improve earning capabilities. The decision to undertake further study can often come down to necessity to adapt, passion for knowledge and cost. Self-education expenses can be costly and it is important to know what costs may be deductible when preparing your personal tax return.

Generally, self-education expenses are deductible if the study being undertaken has a sufficient connection with your current employment. There are a number of conditions which would satisfy the sufficient connection criteria, such as:

• The study will improve or maintain an employee’s skills or knowledge in their current employment. For example, a construction worker enrolling in a course to learn how to use certain machinery at the work site.
• The study will lead, or is likely to lead, to an increase in income from their current employment.
• The study is an upgrade of a qualification in the current employment. For example, upgrading from a Bachelor’s degree to a Masters.
• The study forms part of the traineeship when employed as a trainee.

If the self-education expenses relate to gaining new employment, then those costs will not be deductible. For example, if a nurse enrolls at university to study a medical degree in order to become a doctor, this study would be considered to be in the course of gaining new employment and not connected to the current position as a nurse. The costs associated with the degree would, therefore, not be deductible.

Here’s some examples from previous cases:

• A mining engineer was denied a deduction for for costs of undertaking an MBA course after he was retrenched as a mine manager – even though he was eventually employed by another mining company.
• A medical technologist successfully claimed costs for a trip to an immunology conference in Paris
• An actress successfully claimed costs for a trip to attend a BBC radio drama course
• A maths and science teacher was denied a claim for costs related to financial accounting and marketing subjects
• A features editor of a newspaper was allowed a deduction for speech therapy costs undertaken to enable him to better present himself to people in work situations

If a connection between the self-education undertaken and current employment can be established than expenses incurred to carry out the education can be claimed. General self-education expenses to claim can include:

• Course and tuition fees
• Text books
• Stationery
• Internet usage
• Car expenses from home to your place of education
• Equipment costs
• Home office running costs (52c per hour from 1 July 2018)
• Meals and accommodation (if travelling away overnight)

The expenses that related to self-education which are not deductible include:

• Repayments on Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) loans, repayments on Student Financials Supplement Scheme loans (SFSS) or other Government assisted educational loans.
• Accommodation and meal expenses when not travelling overnight.
• Home office occupancy expenses. Examples being; a percentage of rent, mortgage interest or rates

Author: Allan Edmunds
Email: allan@faj.com.au

New homes and residential property has been subject to GST since the introduction of the tax in 2000. Generally with GST, if you are the seller, you are required to collect the GST portion of the sale and remit this to the Australian Taxation Office.

However this traditional collection method has been thrown out the window when it comes to the sale of new residential premises or potential residential land.

Since 1 July 2018, purchasers of a new residential premises or potential residential land may now be liable to withhold the GST portion from their purchase price and pay this directly to the ATO.

So, what is meant by `new residential premises or potential residential land’?

According to the ATO, a residential premises is considered new when any of the following apply:

• It has not previously been sold as a residential premises.
• It has been created through substantial renovations.
• A new building replaces a demolished building on the same land. Or,
• One of the properties mentioned above that has been rented out for:
  • Less than five years, or,
  • More than five years but has been actively marketed for sale while it is rented.

Examples may include display homes, off the plan purchases and house/land packages.

Potential residential land is defined as ‘land that it is permitted to use for residential purposes, but that does not contain any buildings that are residential premises’. This essentially means vacant residential zoned land.

You’re selling a new residential premises/potential residential land. What do you need to do?

The supplier of the property is required to notify the purchaser, in writing, of their (the buyers) obligations to withhold the GST and provide information that includes the:

• Name and ABN of the suppliers.
• The amount of GST that the purchaser needs to withhold and pay to the ATO.
• When that amount needs to be paid.

The withholding amount will generally either be:

• 1/11^th of the contract price.
• 7% of contract price (where the supplier is using the margin scheme). Or,
• If selling to a related party, the withholding amount is 10% of the GST exclusive market value of the property.

I am buying a new residential property. What do I need to do?

Along with withholding GST from the purchase price and paying this to the ATO, you will also need to lodge two forms with the ATO:

• Form 1: GST property settlement withholding notification online form
• Form 2: GST property settlement date confirmation online form

It is important that both the purchaser and seller are aware of these new rules and their obligations, as a failure to comply with these rules may attract penalties for both parties. If you’re not sure if this applies to you, you should get in contact with your tax agent.

Pro tip: As a seller, you should be mindful of the impact of the new withholding regime on your cash flow projections and mortgage repayment schedules.

Pro tip: As a purchaser, the ATO does not require you to be registered for GST to remit this payment.

Other related blogs:

Is there any GST when buying a commercial property?

Author: Georgia Burgess
Email: georgia@faj.com.au

When establishing either a discretionary trust or unit trust, it is important to know how each type of trust operates. The main distinction between a unit trust and discretionary trust is around how beneficiaries entitlements are determined under the trust and how this is distributed.

So what are the key differences?

With discretionary trusts the beneficiary’s entitlements are left to the discretion of the trustee, who chooses which beneficiaries receive trust distributions and how much.

A discretionary trust is often used within a family to help protect family assets or conduct a business, and the trust can make a ‘family trust election’ to take advantage of certain tax benefits by limiting the distribution pool to the family group.

The discretionary structure has the major benefit of flexibility in distributing income, as distributions can be directed to beneficiaries on lower marginal tax rates to minimise the overall tax paid. Other benefits include asset protection from creditors (but note the importance of having a corporate trustee) as the assets of a discretionary trust are separate to the assets of the beneficiaries, and the ability to carry forward losses in certain circumstances. The main disadvantages is that the trust cannot distribute outside of the family group without penalty, and the structure is “controlled” rather than owned.

Unit trusts are fixed trusts in that the beneficiaries receive distributions in proportion to the number of ‘units’ they hold. The trust allocates the units to beneficiaries for consideration, and units in the trust can be bought and sold between parties. Beneficiaries receive a set percentage of the income and/or the capital of the trust in accordance with their unit holding.

Unit trusts are similar to companies, in that much like companies have shareholders with fluctuating share prices, unit trusts have units with changing unit values, and unit holders make an initial contribution to the trust as investors.

Unit trusts benefit from simplicity – the units define exactly who is entitled to the distributions. This is generally more suitable when unit holders fall outside of one family group. Another benefit is that the units in the trust may be transferred to another beneficiary easily, or alternatively cashed in. Additionally unit trusts provide asset protection and are subject to far less regulation in comparison to a company. The main disadvantage is that unit trusts have less flexibility with income and capital distributions.

Overall discretionary trusts give the trustee far more choice in how to distribute profits, but unit trusts define ownership better. Choosing the best structure is unique to your circumstances and ultimately you’ll want to get some professional advice around this because getting it wrong at the start can cause a costly problem further down the track.

Other related blogs:

Why use a Family Trust?

Author: Danielle Pomersbach
Email: danielle@faj.com.au

Superannuation is the savings accumulated during your working life to support you in your retirement. Your super balance is preserved, meaning that you are unable to access your super legally, until you meet a what is known as a ‘condition of release’.

The most common conditions of release are:

• Reaching your preservation age and retiring.

Your preservation age is the age to which your super benefits are preserved, and is dependent upon your year of birth. If you were born before 1 July 1960 then your preservation age is 55. Recent legislative changes have seen the preservation age increase incrementally to where, if you were born after 1 July 1964, then you super is preserved until you reach 60.

• Reaching your preservation age and commencing a transition to retirement income stream.

A transition to retirement income stream, or TRIS, is a pension paid from your super balance with certain limits such as a maximum annual payment amount.

• Being 60 and over and ceasing an employment arrangement.

Ceasing an employment arrangement can include changing jobs or retiring from one job in the situation where you may have two different employers.

• Being 65 or over.

You do not have to retire once you reach 65 to meet this condition of release.

• Death.

Other conditions of release exist, though they have strict eligibility criteria. These include:

• Compassionate grounds.

Super funds can be released for a specific situation such as payment of medical treatment for yourself or a dependent, payment of a loan to prevent losing your house or to cover funeral expenses of a dependent.

• Severe financial hardship.

Eligibility for accessing super via this method includes being the recipient of government income support payments continuously for 26 weeks, and an inability to meet immediate and reasonable family living expenses.

• Upon diagnosis of a terminal medical condition.

Super may be accessed early if you have an illness that will likely result in your death within 24 months. This diagnosis needs to have been certified by two medical practitioners, at least one of which being a specialist practicing in the area of your illness.

• Due to temporary or permanent incapacity.

Where your inability to work due to a physical or mental medical condition is temporary then you may be able to access super payments for the period you are unable to work. If this inability to work is permanent, and you are not likely to work again due to your medical condition, then you may be able to access your super balance without limit. Certification from two medical practitioners is required to support claims of permanent incapacity.

• A super balance of less than $200.

If you have terminated your employment, and you have a super balance of less than $200 you may access this balance. This can extend to lost super that is held by the Australian Taxation Office with a total of less than $200. No tax is payable when accessing super with balances below this limit.

• Through the First Home Super Saving scheme.

The FHSS scheme was introduced by the Federal Government in the 2018 budget to release pressure in housing affordability. The scheme allows eligible participants to save money for their first home purchase inside their super fund. This money can be accessed when the home is purchased.

Detailed application forms are required to be submitted to request early access to your super balance.

Other related blogs:

Access super before retirement

First home super savings scheme – now legislated

Author: Brigette Liddelow
Email: brigette@faj.com.au