Uncertainty, instability and inaction: not the name of the latest trio to have taken the music scene by storm, but unfortunately these are becoming hallmarks of the current Federal Government.
All taxpayers require certainty in the identification and scope of tax laws that frame both their obligations and their liabilities.
Such certainty is essential to the proper functioning of our tax system for a variety of reasons, including the need to allow:
taxpayers to make investment decisions and strike commercial bargains with certainty as to the tax cost resulting from the relevant transaction;
The more our political leaders play politics, the less they are able to focus on the main game of governing. The length of the current list of outstanding tax changes is still causing significant uncertainty within the taxpayer community and may be distorting investment, expenditure and dividend policy decisions. The Government committed to legislate the unenacted measures last year, but we are still left with close to 20 measures that have not made it into the statute books.
Similarly, the Tax White Paper process is being constantly delayed, which makes it harder and harder for tough policy ideas to be debated over a time period that does not rush the community through the conversation on the need for tax reforms. After all, we are approximately 18 months out from the next Federal Election.
The Tax Institute is Australia’s leading professional association in tax. Its 13,000 members include tax agents, accountants and lawyers as well as tax practitioners in corporations, government and academia.
This article is taken from the August issue of Taxation in Australia, the journal for members of The Tax Institute.
In a 29 June 2018 joint media release, the Treasurer and the Minister for Jobs and Innovation announced the release of draft legislation (and explanatory material) to give effect to the 2018-19 Budget proposal in relation to the research and development tax incentive (R&DTI).
In the Budget, it was announced that the R&DTI would be reformed to better target the program and improve its integrity and fiscal affordability in response to the recommendations of the 2016 Review of the R&D tax incentive. The changes are to apply for income years starting on or after 1 July 2018.
The Treasurer said that the government is committed to backing R&D investment and the economic opportunities and jobs it generates. At the same time, it needed to be made sure that the investment of taxpay…
Some members of the tax profession have argued that the Australian Taxation Office – by introducing automation, standard business reporting and other efficiencies – has stepped ‘over the line’ and is ‘taking’ processing and compliance work away from accountants and tax advisers.
I suggest that the ATO isn’t reducing the traditional work of accountants. Technology and technological change is. It’s essential for practitioners to accept this fact and move forward.
The profession’s reaction is, of course, similar to that of other professions and industries that are seeing their traditional models disrupted by technological change. Examples include the taxi, transport and accommodation sectors, to name but three.
With change comes uncertainty and, the greater the rate of change, the greater the concern from those operating under traditional business models. That said, it can be equally held that change brings opportunity and provides a platform (often said to b…
With subsequent legislative developments and ATO pronouncements, transition to retirement income streams, broader succession planning issues and issues with the transitional CGT relief have become key areas of focus.
Here, Peter Slegers, CTA and Nicole Santinon, authors of the SMSF Income Stream Guide, and Joshua Pascale and Daniel Marateo, who joined them in producing the new second edition of the Guide, tell us about these issues facing advisers.
It is now almost a year since the Fair and Sustainable Superannuation reforms came into effect. Can you summarise the feeling amongst advisers?
The transfer balance cap and associated reforms have certainly changed the landscape for SMSF professionals. Not only have the reforms placed considerable limits on the scale of the tax advantages associated with income streams, but it is now more difficult than ever for members to maximise the value in their…
I started my company in May 2014. During the first couple of months loads and loads of things needed to be sorted out. One of the things that i needed to decide was what calender system to use. I had some very simple requirements.
The big and powerful calenders, like the one integrated in MS Office and alot of others could not perform these simple tasks. Fortunatly i ran across TEAMUP and was impressed by the simplicity. The simplicity (but possibilities to go more advanced) was really what made me use this system.
Today 1½ years later i employ 5 people beside myself and we all have our own calender on TEAMUP. Everyone has stated that its easy to use and get acustomed to. We use it for everything. From planning meetings with customers to keep track of each other in a busy day. Even keeping track of who´s in for lunch becomes simple and easy with TEAMUP.
Thank you Ruben for sharing! It’s an honor to be of support in your journey of entrepreneurship. Best of luck with growing your business!
We are thrilled to receive user stories and feedback from all around the world. We are sharing some of the stories here, and say a big THANK YOU!
This entry was posted on Monday, December 26th, 2005 at 11:30 pm	and is filed under Chronique Amiga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
…and stressed beyond belief! While I am not buried in the backyard (though I am sure hubby has been tempted a few times and vice versa) I AM trying to hold it together. I cannot believe we are really doing it – moving out of the country in 19 days! We are both on overload – still working on the house to get it ready to sell, dealing with shutting the remainder of my old business and working on my new one and slowly but surely getting things crossed off The List! Instead of focusing on what is not done yet, which literally wakes me up at night, it will do me good to focus on what we have done… Continue reading »