The AAT has held that a taxpayer who was a joint tenant of a townhouse with his son (who lived there) did not hold his interest in the property on trust for his son, and so he was liable for CGT on disposal of his share of the property. Facts In April 2002, the taxpayer […]
Independent contractors ’employees’ for SG purposes
The AAT has held that a trust carrying on a commercial and residential plumbing business (called ‘Hall Plumbing’) did not meet its superannuation guarantee (SG) obligations in respect of five of its plumbers that it had treated as independent contractors. Facts The taxpayer contended that the five plumbers were independent contractors and not employees, based […]
Taxpayer (and tax agent) slammed on record keeping
Taxpayer (and tax agent) slammed on record keeping The AAT has upheld the application of a 50% penalty to a taxpayer (who claimed to rely entirely on his tax agent) for ‘recklessness’ in claiming deductions that couldn’t be substantiated. Facts In the 2011/12 tax year, in a tax return lodged by his tax agent, the […]
ATO gets set to target dividend washing
ATO gets set to target dividend washing Bruce Quigley, ATO Second Commissioner, has warned that people who enter into ‘dividend washing’ trades may face penalties under anti-avoidance legislation. Up until now, dividend washing has been a grey area in share trading, and has seemed to have been tacitly permitted, but that is all now changing. […]
Spike in email scams
Spike in email scams The ATO is warning taxpayers to protect their personal and financial details following a sharp spike in reports of tax-related email scams. Since June, reports from the public of phishing scams have quadrupled from 3,586 to 15,441 compared with the same period last year. “While the public is reporting scam emails […]
Tax scheme promoter sentenced
Tax scheme promoter sentenced In the latest successful case brought under Project Wickenby, a Brisbane man has been sentenced to 6 years jail for promoting a tax avoidance scheme to a number of clients which led to a total of $1,392,696 in tax being avoided. Mr Ewan Stoddart, 48, was sentenced on 13 counts of […]
Targeting tax crime: an international approach
Targeting tax crime: an international approach It’s a small world after all following unprecedented cooperation between international tax authorities, ATO Deputy Commissioner of Serious Non-Compliance, Greg Williams, said that it’s now harder than ever to get away with hiding money offshore: “Given the likelihood of detection and the significant negative personal consequences of involvement, if […]
Taxi cents per kilometer rates
Taxi cents per kilometer rates The current taxi cents per kilometre earnings rate (for the 2012 income year) is $1.27/km (up from $1.24/km for the 2011 income year). The cents per kilometre earnings rate is the average amount of gross income earned by a taxi for the total kilometres travelled by the taxi in a […]
BT pays $20,400 penalty for misleading statements
BT pays $20,400 penalty for misleading statements BT Funds Management Ltd (BT) has paid $20,400 in penalties after ASIC issued two infringement notices for misleading statements contained in the online advertising of BT Super. The misleading statements were contained in two separate online advertising campaigns. Each infringement notice imposed a penalty of $10,200. The first […]
Principal of Sherwin Financial Planners charged with fraud
Principal of Sherwin Financial Planners charged with fraud Bradley Thomas Sherwin, Chairman of Wickham Securities Limited and Principal of Sherwin Financial Planners Pty Ltd, faced court today charged with various fraud offences following an investigation by ASIC. Mr Sherwin, 60, of Everton Hills, Queensland appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court charged with 33 counts of […]
Happiness is the key to success
Happiness is the key to success What is it that makes us truly successful? Renowned psychologist, best-selling author and happiness guru Dr. Robert Holden believes our definition of success has changed over time. While many of us were brought up to believe that success will make us happy, Robert says we’re now looking at success […]
Happy workplace, happy business
Grow your retail business in the clouds
Grow your retail business in the clouds “We have this big myth in the technology industry that we like to impose on everybody — disruption is going to happen and it’s going to destroy you. But this pattern of change actually takes time.” And so began Andy Lark, CMO of Xero, launching into an overview […]
Is Kickstarter the future for women?
Is Kickstarter the future for women? It’s a widely known fact that women have a harder time getting their start-ups funded than men do. Part of this is the pervasive stereotype that future billion-dollar CEOs come in the form of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. Another is that women are underrepresented in tech […]
How to build a beautiful business
How to build a beautiful business The media have coined it “Glastonbury for geeks”. For those business-focused revelers that attended this year’s EnterConf in Belfast it was a chance to hear about tech’s latest trends and talking points. And leading one of those discussions was Xero’s CMO, Andy Lark. Andy talked about how Xero continues […]
