Question We have had many staff home garage cars due to COVID lockdown and these cars were only driven for maintenance purposes. The ATO has indicated that for the purpose of operating cost method the cars will not be ‘held’ for the purposes of providing fringe benefits during that period. Are we able to choose … Read more
A Public Benevolent Institution (PBI) seeking deductible gift recipient (DGR) status is required to be registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) under the charity subtype, PBI prior to seeking DRG endorsement with the ATO. In assessing whether an organisation is a PBI, most Federal, State and Territory regulatory bodies including the ACNC … Read more
The ATO has provided some useful and taxpayer friendly guidance regarding the FBT treatment of various scenarios where an employer provides equipment to an employee to support a ‘working from home’ scenario. The ATO guidance (titled COVID-19 and working from home benefits) was issued on 12 March 2021 and can be viewed here. In this … Read more
The ATO issued GSTR 2015/2: development lease arrangements with government agencies in June 2015. However, recently (in April 2021), the ATO updated this ruling via an addendum. This link takes you to the consolidated ruling which incorporates these updates. At the same time, the ATO also issued GSTD 2021/1: development works in the ACT Given … Read more
As part of the 2020–21 Federal Budget, the Government announced that it would introduce an FBT exemption for retraining and reskilling benefits that employers provide to redundant, or soon to be redundant, employees where the benefits may not be related to their current employment. Currently, unless the benefit satisfies the ‘minor benefits’ exemption, FBT is … Read more
Question Is a ‘once off’ deduction allowed under the Government’s “temporary full expensing” measure for assets purchased by individuals earning salary & wages (employees)? If so, can the “otherwise deductible” rule now apply, for example, if an employee is reimbursed for the cost of home office equipment that exceeds $300. Answer The temporary full expensing … Read more
A recent case dealing with Victorian land tax provides a timely reminder about how the nuances of the words used in exempting provisions in tax legislation will dictate the scope of the exemption. Taxpayers should be periodically monitoring exemption entitlements (existing or potential) and not assume the status quo is correct or that the same … Read more
Consider this; an employee who has been provided with a work horse vehicle by their employer, decides to travel to the coast for the long weekend. The employee will leave work on Friday evening, drive directly from their place of employment to a caravan park (150 kms away) and stay in a cabin until Monday … Read more
Question As a local government council, we have an agreement with a community group, who we are granting $1M to complete a community-based project. They intend to pass the money on in full to a third party who will actually engage contractors and complete the works. The community group has an ABN but is not … Read more