The Federal Election has been called for Saturday 18 May 2019, and the Governor-General has 'prorogued' the Parliament from 11 April 2019 until 18 May 2019, and dissolved the House of Representatives.
The election will also be for half the Senate.
As a result, all outstanding Bills have also lapsed (so any measures not yet passed will need to be reintroduced in new Bills after the election if they are to become law).
The Government handed down the 2019/20 Federal Budget on Tuesday 2 April 2019.
Some of the important proposals include:
The legislation to make the above changes to the instant asset write-off has already been passed and received Royal Assent.
The ATO has reminded businesses that provide road freight, information technology ('IT'), security, investigation, or surveillance services
that they need to lodge a Taxable payments annual report ('TPAR') each year to tell the ATO about the payments they make to
contractors who use an Australian business number ('ABN') (even if these services are only part of their business activities).
Such clients' first TPAR will be due by 28 August 2020 for payments made from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020.
We can help with the lodgment of this report, but affected clients will need to keep records of the payments made to contractors. The
required information, including the contractor's ABN, name, address, and total amounts paid during the financial year (including GST) will
normally be contained in the invoices received from the contractors.
The ATO is warning that scammers have adopted ‘Robocall’ technology to target taxpayers across the country.
Assistant Commissioner Gavin Siebert said:
“Scammers are sending pre-recorded messages in record numbers and are manipulating caller identification so that your phone displays a legitimate ATO phone number despite coming from an overseas scammer”
“If the scammers do make contact, they will request payment of a tax debt – usually through unusual methods like bitcoin, gift cards and vouchers. Legitimate ways to pay your tax debt are listed on our website. The scammers will threaten you with immediate arrest, attempt to keep you on the line until payment is made and may become rude or aggressive.”
The technique of displaying misleading phone numbers is known as “spoofing” and is commonly used by scammers in an attempt to make their interactions with taxpayers appear legitimate.
The benchmark interest rate for the FBT year commencing on 1 April 2019 is 5.37% per annum
(up from the rate of 5.20% that applied for the previous FBT year).
This rate is used to calculate the taxable value of:
Example
On 1 April 2019 an employer lends an employee $50,000 for five years at an interest rate of 5%
p.a. with interest charged and paid six-monthly, and no principal being repaid until the end of the
loan.
The actual interest payable by the employee for the current year is $2,500 (i.e., $50,000 x 5%).
However, the notional interest, with a 5.37% benchmark rate, is $2,685, so the taxable value is
$185 (i.e., $2,685 – $2,500).
The exemption threshold for the FBT year commencing 1 April 2019 is $8,714 (up from the
amount of $8,552 that applied in the previous year).
Please Note: Many of the comments in this publication are general in nature and anyone
intending to apply the information to practical circumstances should seek professional advice to independently verify their interpretation
and the information’s applicability to their particular circumstances.