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In a bid to keep help businesses through the latest never-ending lockdown, the NSW government has expanded the JobSaver program to include more businesses as well as increase the amount of payment. The payment is available to businesses with an annual turnover of between $75,000 and $250m (up from the original upper threshold of $50m), that have experienced a revenue decline of 30% or more. Businesses that apply for the payment can expect to receive the funds in their bank accounts within 5 to 10 business days from the approval date.
With the extension of the NSW lockdown by another 4 weeks, both the Federal and NSW government has flagged extra financial support for individuals. Eligible workers will be in line to receive $750 a week if they lose 20 hours or more of work (up from $600 previously). Those that lose between 8 and less than 20 hours will receive a payment of $450 per week (up from $375).
With more and more States going into lockdown to slow the spread of the Delta strain, many businesses and individuals will be feeling the financial pressure from losing sales and work hours. Both the Federal and State governments of NSW and Victoria have stepped in with support packages to help their residents weather the latest storm.
With the advent of a new financial year, there is an important change from 1 July 2021 that employers should be aware of. The rate of super guarantee you’re required to pay your employees has increased from 9.5% to 10%. This is the minimum percentage now required by law but you may pay super at a higher rate under an award or agreement.
As many tenants and landlords turn their attention to their 2020-21 tax returns, one of the big questions is perhaps how they should treat rental concessions provided and received during the last financial year as a result of COVID-19.
Contrary to popular belief, your SMSF can actually invest in collectables such as artworks, jewellery and wine as well as personal use assets such as boats, classic cars or other vehicles. However, investment in these assets must meet very strict and specific rules in order to qualify and thus care should be taken to avoid breaches of super rules in relation to owning collectables and personal use assets in SMSFs.
Following on from the revelation that the bulk of tax collected by the ATO comes from individual taxpayers, it comes as no surprise that the ATO is continuing to target this sector to squeeze out every last tax dollar. This time, it has announced another new data-matching program on novated leases, this is in addition to the plethora of data-matching programs already announced this year on an eclectic range of areas including rental properties, motor vehicles, residency, contractor payments, and cryptocurrency.
Job seekers can now take advantage of the government’s relocation assistance of up to $9,000 when they relocate to take up an on-going work, including an apprenticeship, provided the position (both work and apprenticeship) is for more than 20 hours a week with a duration of more than 6 months. The scheme commenced 1 May 2021 and is designed to help job seekers with the cost of relocating to take up vacant job positions.
Businesses beware, the NSW government is set to introduce new laws aimed at cracking down on companies that avoid their payroll tax obligations in relation to unpaid wages and other practices associated with tax avoidance or minimisation. It is estimated that around 13% of Australian workers are underpaid a total of $1.35bn per year, and some of this potentially foregone payroll tax revenue is what the NSW government is hoping to recover.
The ATO has announced that it will be conducting a new data-matching program with information from the Department of Home Affairs on passenger movements during the 2016-17 to 2022-23 income years. It will use this data to determine whether business entities and individuals are residents and whether they have met their lodgment and registration obligations.
As the JobKeeper program comes to a close, businesses should be aware that the ATO will continue to maintain the integrity of the scheme through compliance activities. While a majority of the businesses have legitimately used the JobKeeper to keep their businesses afloat, the ATO does have concerns with some businesses taking advantage inappropriately.
In a bid to protect the super savings of Australians by weeding out underperforming super funds, the government is currently attempting to legislate requirements which will involve APRA conducting annual performance reviews for certain superannuation products. It is just one of the measures aimed at improving Australia’s superannuation system which manages around $3 trillion in retirement savings.