small business accounting newsletter | 2012 | August 2012 Newsletter

The Government has introduced into Parliament proposed changes to the tax treatment of living-away-from-home (LAFH) allowances and benefits. The Government said it is reforming the tax concession “by better targeting it at people who are legitimately living away from their actual home in Australia (which they continue to maintain) for an initial period”.

A win for the Taxpayer

Two beneficiaries of a family trust, a father and son, have been successful before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) in arguing that amended assessments issued to them were excessive.

SMSF notice of non-compliance set aside

The husband and wife trustees of a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) have had a “notice of non-compliance” that was issued by the Commissioner of Taxation set aside by the AAT. This was despite regulatory breaches involving loans to a related-party company.

Is the government serious about our superannuation benefits - maybe not?

In a number of recent decisions, the AAT has affirmed the Commissioner’s refusal to reallocate excess superannuation contributions received by superannuation funds to an earlier financial year, and has therefore affirmed the excess contributions tax assessments made in those cases.

Division 7A benchmark interest rate

The ATO has advised that, for the income year that commenced on 1 July 2012, the benchmark interest rate to be used in calculating the interest component on the repayment of a private company loan received by a shareholder (or the associate of a shareholder) is 7.05%.

Reasonable travel and meal allowance amounts

The ATO has announced the amounts the Commissioner considers are “reasonable” for the 2012–2013 income year in relation to claims made for:

Car depreciation limit and luxury car tax threshold

The ATO has released the following limits and thresholds for the 2012–2013 income year.

Late lodgers lose their protection

During a recent review with our Tax Agent Liaison Officer, we were made aware of proposed changes to our lodgement program. In short, despite our excellent record, a few poor lodgers on our program dropped our status to very good.