Airlie Moxon is our newest recruit. Airlie comes from a bookkeeping background and will be helping with with processing tax returns, MYOB and Quickbooks.

This month Scott and Chloe both received their Diploma in Financial Services (Financial Planning) qualification.

This adds to Scott’s CPA qualification and gives him the ability to talk to clients about a broader spectrum of financial services.

This is Chloe’s first tertiary qualification and she will soon commence a Certificate 4 in accounting to complement her financial planning diploma.

We are eagerly awaiting the result of the federal election and what might happen to various policy issues such as the Broadband Network scheme, Super Contribution increases and allowable levels of contributions as well as the much talked about mining tax – stay tuned!

We are currently in the middle of our tax planning time of year. If you feel you would benefit from us having a look at your situation and possibly minimising your tax liability for this year, call our office to make an appointment to see if we can help you.

The Federal Government will ask you to pay an additional 1% Medicare levy if you have a taxable income and reportable fringe benefits of more than $70,000 a year for a single and $140,000 a year for couples and families with one child (threshold increases by $1,500 for each additional child) and don’t have appropriate hospital cover for you, your partner and all your dependents. This means that your Medicare levy could increase from 1.5% to 2.5% of your taxable income. You can avoid this additional levy simply by taking out MBF hospital cover with $0, $250 or $500 Excess. Please note: that MBF applies the Excess once per person to a maximum of twice per policy, in a calendar year. Taking out any MBF hospital cover with $1,000 Excess will not enable you to avoid the additional 1% Medicare levy.

The ATO has advised that it is implementing a new approach for SMSF trustees who, despite having been sent previous reminders, have still not lodged their SMSF annual income tax return.

The ATO said it had recently sent letters directly to these funds and their trustees. The ATO said in the new year, it will work with tax practitioners and these trustees to ensure the lodgment of outstanding returns.

Approved auditors and self-managed super funds - role and responsibilities of approved auditors – covers auditor responsibilities under the super laws, links to online auditor forms, guides, tools, eSAT, and other ATO publications.

We will be closing the office on the 23 December 2009 and will re-open on the 4 January 2010. During this time if you need to leave us a message please do so on our phone message bank or send us an email.

The ATO has released an expanded range of small business benchmarks. They provide small businesses with ‘a snapshot of what, on average, is happening in businesses operating in a particular industry by providing a measure of various business costs in relation to turnover’. In addition, the ATO says the benchmarks are a useful tool to assist business owners in assessing their business’s performance. Second Commissioner of Taxation, Bruce Quigley, said the benchmarks will be used by the ATO to identify businesses that may be avoiding their tax obligations.

Holding multiple superannuation accounts means multiple sets of fees, more paperwork and the difficult task of keeping track of your super. Combining your super can help to minimise these impacts and allows you to develop a clear investment strategy, which should provide you with the earnings you need to grow your super for retirement! Most people are surprised at how much money they have accumulated when they add up all of their various funds.

You can track down any lost super through the Australian Taxation Office by ringing their superannuation information line on 13 10 20.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION.

Its important to review any impact that transferring your benefits may have prior to you doing so.

For example, some funds have exit fees and any insurance  that you may hold within your superannuation investment may lapse!

You need to be aware of the differing fee structures and benefits offered by each of your funds prior to making the decision to consolidate your super.

Our financial planning department offer a super consolidation service and are able to take the hard work out of this for you.

Call us at the office to organise and appointment and we will get your super working harder for you!