ATO to scrutinize every return for tax time 2019
The ATO has announced that it will scrutinize every tax return for the tax time 2019 as part of an ongoing focus on closing gaps. The ATO has also announced that the taxpayers who have made incorrect claims may be subject to audit even if the claims made are minor. In case the ATO decides to conduct an audit, it will contact the taxpayer or the tax agent to make further inquiries to support the claims.
Super Measures (No. 1) Bill 2019 receives the assent
This bill had passed all stages and makes the below amendments:
- High-Income employees with multiple employers can opt-out of the Super Guarantee regime to avoid unintentionally breaching the $25K concessional contributions cap. Such employees with income exceeding $263,157 (9.50% of $263,157 = $25K) will be able to apply to the ATO for an ‘employer shortfall exemption certificate’. This comes into effect from 1st July 2018.
- The non – arm’s length income rules are expanded so that the Superannuation Funds are taxed at 45% for related party schemes involving non – arm’s length expenses. This comes into effect from 1st July 2018 regardless of whether the scheme was entered before that time.
Accountants providing services to their clients
- Where an accountant provides a staff member to work at the clients’ premises for the purpose of preparing the clients’ documentation and such a staff member is not being directed or supervised by the client, this doesn’t constitute a labor hire.
- Whereas the staff member supplements the clients’ team and is performing the same work as that of the clients’ employees, this constitutes a labor hire.
Deferral of RTP Schedules reporting
- The obligation to lodge ‘Reportable Tax Position Schedules’ for large private companies and corporate groups has been deferred to the FY 2020-21. This was about to start from the FY 2019-20 initially.
- The decision to defer this has been taken by the ATO based on the industry feedback in its recent consultation.
Get ready for ‘myGovID & RAM’
AUSKey will officially be decommissioned on 31st March 2020 as ATO is making a shift to ‘myGovID & Relationship Authorization Manager (RAM)’. Hence accounting practices must review & update the below details:
- Associate details listed in the ABR
- AUSKey holders listed in AUSKey Manager
- Permissions assigned to each AUSKey in Access Manager
The above updates will easily link the accounting practice to RAM and will assist when using the ‘Import AUSKey users’ function.
Written by
Sumithra Varadarajan
Sai Kalyanaraman
