Taxation Ruling TR 2021/1 : Deductibility of employee transport expenses:
On 17th Feb 2021 The ATO has released Taxation Ruling TR 2021/1 on the deductibility of employee transport expenses.
An employee can only deduct a transport expense under section 8-1 to the extent that:
- They incur the expense in gaining or producing their assessable income
- The expense is not of a capital private or domestic nature.
- The expense is not incurred in gaining or producing exempt income or non-assessable non-exempt income, and
- A provision of the Actdoes not prevent it from being deducted
This Ruling does not deal with circumstances of an employee who has no regular place of work.
Closely held payees: STP options for small employers:
ATO has released details of the three options that small employers with closely held payees will have for STP reporting from 1st July 2021
- Report actual payments on or before the date of payment
- Report actual payments to closely held payees quarterly.
- A reasonable estimate quarterly – report amounts equal to or greater than 25 per cent of the payee’s total gross payments and tax withheld from the previous finalised payment summary annual report (PSAR).. There are various safe harbour provisos relating to failure to withhold penalties.
A closely held payee is an individual who is directly related to the entity from which they receive a payment, eg family members of a family business; directors or shareholders of a company; and beneficiaries of a trust.
CPI: December 2020 index number :
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released the CPI index number of 117.2 for the December quarter 2020 (up from 116.2 for the September 2020 quarter).
This has triggered the indexation of the Pension general transfer balance cap to $1.7m (up from $1.6m since 2017-18
Following points are to be kept in mind while calculating the Transfer Balance cap-
- The 1.7 M lifetime cap applies if the first ever income stream is started on or after 1 July 2021
- If a person has already used 100% of their available cap before 01/07/2021, their personal transfer balance cap will not be subject to further indexation on 1 July 2021
- If an individual had a transfer balance account before 1 July 2021, but has not used the full amount of their transfer balance cap, their cap will be proportionally increased based on the highest ever balance of their transfer balance account.
Increase in Threshold of Total Superannuation Balance:
The “total superannuation balance” threshold will also increase from $1.6m to $1.7m from 2021-22. This means that individuals with a total superannuation balance of $1.7m or more on 30 June 2021, will have a non-concessional cap of nil from 1 July 2021.
VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE
Circuit Breaker Action Business Support Package:
The Victorian Government has announced a $143 million package to support eligible businesses impacted by the circuit breaker action to limit the spread of COVID-19.
This is a package of cash grants and direct payments to small businesses who were most impacted by the circuit breaker action, including businesses in hospitality, tourism, events, and selected retail.
Business Costs Assistance Program :
offers grants of $2000 for eligible businesses and sole traders in the most impacted sectors of hospitality, food wholesaling, tourism, events, and selected retail. Applications are open and will close on Tuesday 16 March 2021.
Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund :
will give previous eligible recipients of this grant a $3000 one-off, per premises payment.
Victorian Accommodation Support Program :
assist accommodation providers that had bookings cancelled between Friday 12 February and Wednesday 17 February, due to the circuit breaker action.
Regional Travel Voucher Scheme.:
There will be a new Melbourne Travel Voucher Scheme offering 40,000 vouchers for greater Melbourne, and an additional 10,000 vouchers to support travel in regional Victoria.
Small Business Digital Adaptation Program
The Government of Victoria Small Business Digital Adaptation Program supports sole traders, micro businesses and small businesses to access digital products, tools and training to help build digital capability in their day-to-day operations.
Eligibility:
- Operate a business located in Victoria
- Holds an Australian Business Number (ABN)
- Have held that ABN on 13 September 2019
Eligible businesses can apply for a rebate of $1,200 to assist with the purchase a new product or upgrade a current product
Can access one or more approved products for 12 months, along with unlimited free training and workshops, and free product trials.
Products chosen must be:
- A new product not currently used by the business, or
- An upgrade of an existing product with additional product features providing specific digital adaptation capability (for example, upgrading an existing website to an e-commerce site), or
- A product available under the program that has been used by the business before (more than one year ago) that it would like to resume using.
Will not cover the cost of:
- Renewals of existing product or software licences, or
- Minor updates to existing products (for example, a software version update), or
- Products that are not available under the program.
Applications for purchase rebates to cover 12 months’ product access are open upto 30 June 2021, or until funds are exhausted.
ASIC cost recovery for corporate insolvency:
This Levy allows ASIC to recover supervisory costs related to the new formal debt restructuring process.
Entities that are regulated by ASIC are required to pay a levy (the “cost recovery levy”) to enable ASIC to recover its regulatory costs. The levy is payable once ASIC issues the leviable entity with a notice setting out its liability for the levy.
