Afterpay is currently sweeping the retail landscape in Australia. In brief, Afterpay is an online checkout service where the customers buy the item and pay for the purchase over four equal interest-free fortnightly instalments. If the payments are made in full and on time, customers only pay the price of the item purchased. Additional costs are only incurred if customers do not make the required fornightly payments in full and on time. In this circumstance Afterpay charges the customer a late fee(s).
The ATO has confirmed they are targeting Australian cryptocurrency traders to ensure that all profits are declared in personal income tax returns. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are considered property, not currency, by the Australian Taxation Office and therefore are deemed to be capital assets for the purpose of capital gains tax. GMD Advisory remind clients to ensure all cryptocurrency sales are declared and provided to their tax advisors to ensure correct reporting to the Australian Taxation Office. Errors relating to income from cryptocurrencies & the sharing economy are among the most common tax return errors.
All Self-Managed Superannuation Funds that hold property as an asset class must report to the ATO each year the market value of each property held.
Victoria's Long Service Leave Act 2018 applied from 1 November 2018. This means new rights and responsibilities for employers and employees. The changes include allowing employees access to take long service leave in smaller increments and access to long service leave after sevens years as opposed to ten years. Additionally, unpaid leave, including parental leave, counts towards long service leave which is a measure aimed at providing greater equity to the female workforce.
The QLD State government implemented more changes than any other state or territory this year in relation to property ownership and acquisition in the Sunshine State. One of the key changes is the news that foreign buyers of QLD based real estate will from 1 July 2018 be hit with a 7% transfer duty, formerly known as stamp duty, up from only 3%. This new duty rate will apply to foreign buyers regardless of legal ownership structure.
The Turnbull Government is now looking to reduce the repayment threshold for university graduates by more than $10,000, which means anyone earning more than $45,000 would make compulsory contributions.
A submission to a parliamentary committee demonstrates that millions of Australian illegally claimed work related expenses. The ATO has published that such claims have cost the Crown 2.5 billion a year which is more than the cost of multinational tax avoidance.