The ATO has devised special rounding conventions where an amount of GST includes a fraction of a cent. Although it labels these conventions “rules”, there is no obligation for parties on either side of a transaction to follow them, as the ATO states: “You and your customer do not need to use the same rounding rules.”

We all understand that budgets are an exercise in predicting the future. Given what has happened in 2020, gazing into the crystal ball and extracting something reliable is fraught with difficulty.

The Treasury has given its best estimate, but we also need to appreciate that budgets are usually never 100% on target — that’s the nature of budgets. The question is, by how much? It will be remembered as Australia’s biggest spending budget with a forecast deficit of $214 billion for the 2021 fiscal year.

Over the first quarter of this financial year, the government has initiated two new data matching programs, using data that the ATO holds.

The JobKeeper payment, which was originally due to end after 27 September, will now continue to be available to eligible businesses (including the self-employed) until 28 March 2021. However there are some changes to consider.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed property owners, and tenants in many cases, in unfamiliar territory. Many tenants have been paying reduced rent or ceased paying because their income has been adversely affected.

Despite the current COVID-19 world in which we live, the procedures for completing and lodging tax returns remains pretty much the same.

PAYG instalments is a system that helps you manage your expected tax liability on income from your business or investments for the current income year by making smaller regular payments.

This financial year is almost over, but there are still effective strategies you may be able to employ to make sure you pay the right amount of tax for the 2019-20 year and maximise any refund entitlement. This is still, if not more so, the case in the current COVID-19 environment.

So what happens from a tax point of view when a person leaves Australia part-way through the income year? How is the income they derived before that time taxed? And how is any income they derived after that time taxed (whether from Australian or foreign sources)?

There are many questions being asked lately about claiming expenses when forced to work from home over the COVID-19 period – plus a lot of concern about any consequent capital gains issues when later selling a property from which people have been coerced to work from during this time.

The ATO has announced that it has identified some common errors regarding luxury car tax (LCT) claims, but also says there are issues it has identified with LCT that are more associated with actively trying to pay less tax than required.

A legislative package has been pushed through Parliament which contains a number of bills that implement the government’s economic response to the spread of the coronavirus.

The COVID-19 stimulus and relief package also contains measures relating to the instant asset write-off, accelerated depreciation, a cash flow boost for employers, superannuation, stimulus payments to households and much more. Here are more details on each area.

Entering into a remuneration package to secure a vehicle through a salary sacrifice arrangement is a popular option offered to employees. However the ATO has issued a ruling on another particular set of wheels that opens up both a tax and health incentive.

If you own a marine vessel, perhaps a thoroughbred horse or two, have a piece of fine art hanging on a wall, high value motor vehicles in the garage or an aircraft in the shed, it could be time to make sure your tax affairs are in order.