Claiming self-education expense deductions

Individuals upskilling and educating themselves during these down times may be eligible to claim a deduction for their self-education expenses. The deductions apply to self-education activities that are directly related to an individual’s work as an employee. In the case that individuals are looking to claim self-education expenses based on a course’s relation to their…

Closely held payees exemption to be extended

Employers with 19 or fewer employees are temporarily exempt from reporting ‘closely held (related) payees’ through Single Touch Payroll enabled software. The exemption deadline has been extended from 1 July 2020 to 1 July 2021 as part of the ATO’s response to the COVID-19 situation. A closely held payee is an individual directly related to…

JobKeeper GST turnover test released

The ATO has published a ruling on the decline in turnover test for businesses applying for the JobKeeper scheme as part of the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Rules 2020. This turnover test requires businesses to calculate their ‘current GST turnover’ and ‘projected GST turnover’, subject to modifications to the definitions outlined in…

What you need to know about lodgement deferral dates

Due to COVID-19 and unforeseen financial circumstances, the ATO has announced a series of lodgement deferral dates available for tax returns, fringe benefits tax returns, monthly and quarterly BAS, annual GST returns, PAYG summary annual reports and taxable payment annual reports. Lodgement deferrals extend the due date for lodgement of a document without incurring a…

Setting up your myGovID

If you haven’t set up your myGovID yet, you need to do it before you can lodge your next business activity statement (BAS). AUSkey, including Manage ABN Connections, will be replaced by the ATO’s myGovID and Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM) from 27 March 2020. After this change, you will no longer be able to access…