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Child Maintenance Trusts

Child Maintenance Trusts Save Tax

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Child maintenance trusts save tax but at what costs?

Child Maintenance Trusts

There are two reasons why child maintenance trusts are not that popular, even though they can save you a lot of tax.

Save Tax

Let’s say you pay $40k in child support for two children per year. If you earn more than $180k per year, this means that you need to earn $80k each year to pay $40k in tax and $40k in child support.

A child maintenance trust let’s you scrap those $40k in tax. So then you just pay the $40k in child support and no tax. And your two children don’t pay any tax either if this is their only income. So zero tax all the way through.

Sounds good, right? But …this tax saving comes at a huge cost. You lose two things:

1 – Loss of Capital

Let’s assume a 5% return. For the trust to earn $40k a year, you need to hand over $0.8m. These $0.8m are gone. Unlikely that you ever see that money again. They will go to your children at vesting. So you end up paying child support plus the $0.8m.

2 – Loss of Leverage

If you are the payer, you have one draw card to secure regular access to your children – apart from going to court: Regular payments.

By handing over all of the money in one go, you lose that leverage.

If you are denied access to your children, you could – in theory – retaliate by not paying out trust distributions, but then you don’t just have the other parent chasing you, You also have the ATO to deal with.

Trade Off

Despite all this, a child maintenance trust might work for you if you are certain that access to your children won’t be an issue.

You can trade a child maintenance trust against lower ongoing payments. So you negotiate lower child support payments and in return pay a certain amount into a child maintenance trust.

Summary

Child maintenance trusts are not that popular because you lose capital and leverage. But they might still work for you if you can reduce ongoing payments accordingly.

 

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Reduce Child Support Payments

Working From Home Expenses

Tax When You Buy Overseas Shares

 

Disclaimer: numba does not provide specific financial or tax advice in this article. All information on this website is of a general nature only. It might no longer be up to date or correct. You should contact us directly or seek other accredited tax advice when considering whether the information is suitable to your circumstances.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

Tax When You Buy Overseas Shares

Tax When You Buy Overseas Shares

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How to avoid additional tax when you buy overseas shares?

Tax When You Buy Overseas Shares

You can join a global trading platform and within seconds you own a share of Apple, Google or Tesla. But what are the tax implications?

If you get this wrong, you will end up with a lot more tax to pay, also called withholding tax leakage.

So let’s say that you buy $1m worth of Tesla shares – either as an individual, trust or company – and that they pay you a $100,000 dividend. Just dreaming.

So let’s start with you having bought the shares as an individual

Individual

You are entitled to $100,000 of dividends. This is your income.

But the dividends are subject to a withholding tax of 15%, so you receive $85,000 in your Australian bank account.

In your individual tax return you include income of $100,000. At the top marginal tax rate of 45% your tax liability is $45,000.

But you already paid $15,000 withholding tax. And so you receive an offset for this money. Meaning you don’t have to pay it again.

And so you pay $30,000 in Australian tax. With the withholding tax you paid this gives you an effective tax rate of 45%.

Trust

If you bought the shares through your family trust, the same applies. If the trust distributes the $85,000 to you, you recognise the $100,000 as income plus a foreign income tax offset (‘FITO’) of $15,000.

As before your tax liability at the top marginal tax rate is $45,000. Less the FITO you pay $30,000 in top up tax in Australia, giving you a 45% effective tax rate.

Company

As before, the $85,000 arrive in your company’s bank account. The company recognises income of $100,000 and so has a tax liability of $25,000 at a company tax rate of 25%.

But the company receives a FITO for the withholding tax, and so the company only pays $10,000 in top up tax and still has $75,000 in the bank

And so all is well. Until the company wants to distribute the $75,000 to you. Now you run into issues.

Because you only get a franking credit for the Australian tax your company paid, but not for the withholding tax.

And so the dividend of $75,000 only arrives with a franking credit of $10,000, not $25,000.

So you recognise income of $85,000. At a marginal tax rate of 45%, the tax liability is $38,250. But you have a $10,000 franking credit, so you only pay $28,250. So in total you paid $15,000 withholding tax plus $10,000 corporate tax plus $28,250 individual tax = $53,250, giving you an effective tax rate of 54.25%.

So when you buy overseas shares through a company, you pay almost 10% more tax on overseas dividends than if you had received those as an individual or through a family trust.

Does this make sense? Please give me a call if you get stuck.

 

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Tax When You Expand Overseas

Car Tax Deduction

Paying Employee Accommodation

 

Disclaimer: numba does not provide specific financial or tax advice in this article. All information on this website is of a general nature only. It might no longer be up to date or correct. You should contact us directly or seek other accredited tax advice when considering whether the information is suitable to your circumstances.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

Tax When You Expand Overseas

Tax When You Expand Overseas

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What happens to your tax when you expand overseas?

Tax When You Expand Overseas

There are two things you need to look out for around tax when you expand overseas. And these are GST and income tax. 

GST

When you sell things overseas, these sales are usually GST-free in Australia.

However, the other country might charge GST on your products. And they charge this GST in one of three ways:

1 – If you sell via a platform like Shopify or Amazon, the platform will charge the overseas GST.

2 – If your product exceeds a certain value, the other country will hold your shipment until your customer pays the overseas GST. 

3 – And if total sales in that country exceed a certain threshold, your Australian or overseas company – depending on who makes the sales – is required to register for GST, charge overseas GST and lodge overseas GST returns. 

So that’s GST in a nutshell. Of course, the devil is in the detail, but this is roughly how it works in most countries.

Income Tax

In Australia you are taxed on your worldwide income, assuming you are a tax resident of Australia. 

But to what extent any overseas profit is taxed in Australia or overseas, depends on what you are doing overseas. So you face one of four scenarios.

1 – You have no presence in the other country – no staff, no stock, no office, no warehouse, no company or other entity, nothing. And so you pay no income tax over there. Everything is taxed in Australia.

2 – You have an entity over there that will pay that country’s tax just like anybody else. When you now distribute these profits back to your Australian entity, there is no further tax. So your business only pays tax once on these profits. 

3 – You have no entity over there but a presence – be it staff, inventory, wharehouse, office or something else. And so you have a so-called permanent establishment. And this permanent establishment lodges tax returns and pays tax over there just like a real entity. Any profits sent back to Australia come with a credit for any tax paid overseas, so your business only pays tax once.

4 – You have an entity over there but are able to argue that this entity is an Australian tax resident and has no permanent establishment in the other country. It used to be that you only need central management and control in Australia for this to work. But now you also need your core operations in Australia. And that makes scenario 4 beyond the point now and infeasible.

Double Taxation

Why would you even be interested in scenario 4 if it was still feasible? Because scenario 2 and 3 have one big drawback if you operate through an Australian company – double taxation.

When you distribute the overseas profits to you as the sole shareholder, there is no franking credit attached to the extent the Australian company didn’t pay Australian income tax.

The foreign income tax paid doesn’t give you franking credits. And so you pay tax again on the overseas profit at your marginal tax rates. If …..

Ways To Avoid Double Taxation

If there is an overseas profit. And if you actually distribute those overseas profits to the individual shareholder.

The Australian entity can on-charge any expenses it incurred for the overseas entity (plus margin) in form of management fees. That might already reduce the overseas profit to nil or at least significantly reduce it. But make sure you can justify these charges. The overseas tax collection agency might look at your transfer pricing.

And you don’t have to distribute the overseas profits anyway. If you want to keep some profits in the Australian entity to fund further expansion, you keep the overseas profits and pay the Australian profits out and hence no double taxation either.

Permanent Establishment

Whether you have a permanent establishment (‘PE’) in the other country is not always easy to tell. There is a lot of grey. But here are a few clear indicators.

Using a 3PL service doesn’t create a PE, but using your own warehouse does.

Having independent contractors doesn’t create a PE, but having dependent contractors or staff does.

Using a shared office from time to time while you travel doesn’t create a PE, but having a permanent office does.

The rest depends on the double tax agreement between Australia and the other country and a few other things.

Summary

So when you want to expand overseas, look at GST and income tax. And give me a call if you get stuck.

 

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Jobkeeper 2.1

How to Book a Company Car in Xero

Paying Employee Accommodation

 

Disclaimer: numba does not provide specific financial or tax advice in this article. All information on this website is of a general nature only. It might no longer be up to date or correct. You should contact us directly or seek other accredited tax advice when considering whether the information is suitable to your circumstances.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

How to Book a Company Car in Xero

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How to book a company car in Xero? Here is how you do it.

Book a company car in Xero

To book a company car in Xero is complex – there are a lot of moving parts. You have the split between principal and interest. Then depreciation or the instant asset write off. GST. The car limit. FBT. And last but not least a potential Div 7A issue. That is a lot. But let’s go through it step by step.

Acquisition

Let’s use an example. On 14 April 2020 you bought a car for $80,000 – a so-called ‘luxury car’ – and the dealer invoice says the following:

NetGSTGross
Vehicle Price69,698.476,969.84776,668.32
Transfer Fee34.00034.00
LCT (Luxury Car Tax)342.680342.68
Stamp Duty2,955.0002,955.00
73,030.156,969.8580,000.00
Less Deposit(2,000.00)
Less Finance Liability(78,000.00)
Due0.00

You book this purchase in Xero in 9 simple steps.

Step 1 – Raise a Bill 

You start with raising a bill if the car is financed. If you pay for the car, you have a choice – bill or money spent.

DR Fixed Asset 1GST on Expenses69,698.47
DR Fixed Asset 1GST Free Expenses34.00
DR Fixed Asset 1GST Free Expenses342.68
DR Fixed Asset 1GST Free Expenses2,955.00
DR GSTSystem generated6,969.85
CR Car Finance LiabilitySystem generated – BAS Excluded(80,000)

So the car shows up in your balance sheet with $73,030.15.

Step 2 – Reconcile Loan Repayments 

Every time there is a loan repayment, you need to split the payment between principal and interest as listed in the finance documents.

DR Car Finance LiabilityBAS Excluded1,000
DR Interest ExpenseBAS Excluded1,00
CR BankSystem Generated(1,100)

If you paid for the car outright, then you can skip this step. There is no liability to repay.

Step 3 – Determine Car Limit Excess

If the purchase price of your car is below the car limit in the year of purchase, you can skip this step. If it isn’t, you claimed too much GST in Step 1. So now you adjust this.

The car limits for 2019/20 and 2020/21 are as follows (for all cars, whether fuel efficient or not):

YearNetGSTGross
2019/2052,346.365,234.6457,581.00
2020/2153,760.005,376.0059,136.oo

This is the maximum GST and depreciation you can claim. No need to pro rata for having bought the car sometime during the year. 

Step 4 – Adjust GST

So now you adjust the GST to these amounts. Here is the booking.

DR Fixed Asset 1BAS Excluded19,087.32
CR Fixed Asset 1GST on Expenses(17,352.11)
CR GSTSystem generated(1,735.21)

The GST of $1,735.21 you no longer claim increases the cost of the car from $73,030.15 to $74,765.36.

Step 5 – Instant Asset Write Off 

Thanks to the instant asset write off ($150,000 threshold until 30 June 2021), you can claim the car in one go. But you only get a tax deduction up to the car limit.

DR Instant Asset Write Off ExpenseBAS Excluded52,346.36
DR Non Deductible ExpensesBAS Excluded22,419.00
CR Accumulated Depreciation Asset 1BAS Excluded(74,765.36)

You can book the GST adjustment through a manual journal – as done above – or through the depreciation worksheet in Xero.

Step 6 – Determine FBT Days

In the year of purchase (or sale) you don’t hold the car for the full 365 days. Open the ATO day calculator here and calculate the days from the date of purchase to 31 March. The FBT year goes from 1 April to 31 March.

In this example you bought the car on 14 April 2020. So you calculate the FBT days from 14 April 2020 to 31 March 2021, which are 352 days.

Step 7 – Calculate FBT

Any company car takes you into FBT territory. FBT stands for Fringe Benefit Tax.

Providing you or any employee with a car constitutes a car benefit covered by Division 2 FBT Assessment Act, giving rise to FBT. 

To work out your FBT position, you choose between the statutory formula method and the operating cost method. The later requires a log book.

Which one is better depends on how much you REALLY use the car for business. If less than 80%, use the statutory formula method which works like this (base value excludes registration or stamp duty):

Taxable Value = Base Value (cost + delivery + GST) x 20% x Available Days/365 – Employee Contribution

Not relevant in the year of purchase or the subsequent 3 years, but once you owned the car for at least 4 years on 1 April, you can reduce the base value by 1/3 (33.33%).

NetGSTGross
Vehicle Price69,698.476,969.84776,668.32
Transfer Fee34.00034.00
TOTAL Base Value69,732.476,969.8576,702.32
x 20%15,340.46
x 352/365 days14,792.81

So you take 20% of the base value and then pro rata the amount. That is the employee contribution to reduce your FBT to nil.

Step 8 – Book Employee Contribution

You have a choice. You can lodge an FBT return and then pay the FBT. Or you recognise an employee contribution for the amount and voila: No FBT to pay and no FBT return to lodge. Most sole sharesholders do the later.

The employee contribution is subject to GST. In the example it would look like this.

DRShareholder LoanBAS Excluded14,792.81
CROther IncomeGST on Income(13,448.00)
CRGSTSystem Generated(1,344.81)

If you set amounts to ‘GST inclusive’ in Xero, you don’t need to calculate the GST. The software does it for you.

Step 9 – Div 7A

You just have one last potential problem to deal with if you booked the employee contribution in Step 8. And that is Div 7A. If the company has a receivable to the shareholder at year end, you have a Div 7A problem.

So create a Div 7A agreement or reduce the distributable suplus to nil.

Summary

And that’s it. This is how you book a company car in Xero. In future years, you still have to deal with loan repayments and FBT employee contributions, but the rest is done and dusted.

Does this make sense? Please give me a call if you get stuck.

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Jobkeeper 2.1

Help is Coming

COVID-19 Help for Business

 

Disclaimer: numba does not provide specific financial or tax advice in this article. All information on this website is of a general nature only. It might no longer be up to date or correct. You should contact us directly or seek other accredited tax advice when considering whether the information is suitable to your circumstances.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

IRS Streamlined Procedures

Late 1040 While in Australia

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So you you got a late 1040 while in Australia?

Late 1040 While in Australia

You are not alone. Happens to many. And often it is not just the 1040, but the FBAR as well. 

The bad news is that this can cost you a lot of money if you don’t act. Think US$10,000 per FBAR you didn’t file.

The good news is that there is an IRS amnesty to get you out of this penalty-free. It’s called the IRS ‘Streamlined Procedures’. You still need to pay the actual tax plus interest, but at least the huge IRS penalties are off the table.

To qualify you show that your failure to file was not willful, meaning you didn’t do it with intention. You explain your personal and financial background and how it happened. We can guide you through this process.

The IRS Streamlined Procedures are only for individual taxpayers. Companies and partnerships are excluded. 

Nobody knows how long this amnesty will last. So use it while you can. Just call us if your US tax is troubling you. We deal with late filing issues all the time.

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Jobkeeper 2.1

IRS Streamlined Procedures

IRS Amnesty Programs For US Citizens in Australia

 

Disclaimer: numba does not provide specific financial or tax advice in this article. All information on this website is of a general nature only. It might no longer be up to date or correct. You should contact us directly or seek other accredited tax advice when considering whether the information is suitable to your circumstances.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

 

IRS amnesty programs for us citizens in Australia

IRS Amnesty Programs For US Citizens in Australia

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IRS amnesty programs for US citizens in Australia because it is so easy to forget. You are having a great time in Australia – maybe you lived here most of your life or maybe you arrived a short while ago – either way it is easy to forget that your US tax obligations didn’t stop when you became an Australian resident.

IRS Amnesty Programs For US Citizens in Australia

And so it is easy to fall behind with your US filing. There are hefty fines when you do, but luckily all is not lost. The IRS has a number of amnesty programs that should get you out of trouble relatively scot-free. Here are five of these. The first three are general amnesties. The last two are form specific amnesties.

1 – IRS Streamlined Procedures

With this one you can come clean and avoid penalties if you file tax returns for the past 3 years and FBARs for the past 6 years. To qualify, you must file Form 14653 showing that your previous non-compliance was non-willful. That is the key word: Non-Willful.

You still pay interest on the outstanding tax but at least you avoid most of the penalties.

2 – Voluntary Disclosure Program

This one will help you if you are nervous about something. You didn’t think it was important and so you didn’t include it in your tax return, but now you are awake at night, worrying that maybe it is bigger than you thought. So this one will make sure that the IRS doesn’t slam you as ‘willful’ – there is the word again – and aren’t hit with criminal penalties.

3 – Relief Procedures for Former Citizens

This one is for accidental Americans. Let’s say you were born in Australia and one of your parents had a US passport at the time and so you ended up with US citizenship ‘by accident’. And now you want to renounce your US citizenship but first want to close all your IRS filing obligations. If this is you, then this relief will get you there.

There is just one catch. This one only applies if your total tax liablity was US$25,000 or less for the past 5 years.

4 – Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures (“DFSP”)

If you have submitted your tax returns on time but forgot your FBARs, then this one is for you. You file the missing FBARs with a brief statement explaining why you are late.

As long as the IRS has not yet contacted you regarding the missing FBARs and as long as you are not under a civil or criminal investigation by the IRS, this amnesty will allow you to file the FBARs for up to 6 years without any penalties.

5 – Delinquent International Information Return Submission Procedures (“DIIRSP”)

This one is for you if you just forgot to file certain information about your international affairs. For example Form 5471 about your Pty Ltd in Australia (‘interest in foreign corporations’) or Form 3520 about your Australian family trust (‘transactions with foreign trusts’) or Form 8938 when your your Australian shares, units and options (‘foreign financial assets’) exceed certain thresholds.

If you have a ‘reasonable cause’ for not filing these on time and the IRS hasn’t contacted you yet asking where they are and if you are not under civil or criminal investigation by the IRS , then you can use this amnesty to file these forms without any penalties, explaining your reasonable cause.

So if you are late, don’t despair. There is almost always a solution. Just contact us. We take care of your Australian and US taxes together with our sister company in the US.

Imagine no longer having your US tax weighing on your shoulders.

 

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Late 1040 While in Australia

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Disclaimer: numba does not provide specific financial or tax advice in this article. All information on this website is of a general nature only. It might no longer be up to date or correct. You should contact us directly or seek other accredited tax advice when considering whether the information is suitable to your circumstances.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

IRS Streamlined Procedures

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The IRS streamlined procedures allow you to come clean penalty-free.

IRS Streamlined Procedures

If you forgot to file FBARs and US tax returns for quite a while, the IRS Streamlined Procedures are for you. All you need to show is that your failure to file was not willful, meaning you didn’t do it with intention.

The IRS Streamlined Procedures are the most popular and generous of IRS amnesties. And here is why.

Penalties

If you live in Australia and anywhere else in the world outside the US, this amnesty wipes out all your penalties. And there are quite a few of those.

There are – among others – penalties for failure to file (5%) or pay (0.5%) and most significant the $10,000 penalty for each FBAR you didn’t file. 

And these are just the three most common ones.

Then there is also an additional 20% penalty if your income is substantially understated. A civil penalty of $10,000 per year per entity when you fail to file Form 5471, Form 8865 and/or Form 8858. Not to mention criminal penalties when the IRS finds you to have willfully neglected your filing obligations.

But all this is off the table when you apply for the IRS Streamlined Procedures.

What You Still Pay

This amnesty wipes out all penalties, but you still have to pay the actual taxes you owe plus any interest on these. 

Eligibility

To qualify you need to file tax and information returns for the past three years, FBARs for the past six years plus your Non-Willful Certification (Form 14653).

The IRS Streamlined Procedures are only for individual taxpayers. Companies and partnerships are excluded. 

There are different more stringent rules for taxpayers living in the US, but since you live in Australia, these won’t apply to you. 

Non-Willful Certification

In your non-willful certification in Form 14653 you explain how you unintentially got into this mess and that your conduct was non-willful. So you explain your personal and financial background and explain how it happened.

You also need to explain the source of all foreign funds and assets – inheritance, bank account while living in Australia etc – and what you did with them – investment decisions, withdrawals to cover cost of living etc. List the name and address of your tax agent and anybody else who helped you with your financial affairs.

Nobody knows how long this amnesty will last. So use it while you can. Just call us if your US tax is troubling you. We deal with late filing issues all the time together with our sister agent in the US.

 

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Late 1040 While in Australia

IRS Amnesty Programs For US Citizens in Australia

Minor Benefit Rule

 

Disclaimer: numba does not provide specific financial or tax advice in this article. All information on this website is of a general nature only. It might no longer be up to date or correct. You should contact us directly or seek other accredited tax advice when considering whether the information is suitable to your circumstances.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

How To Take Cash Out of Your Company

Take Cash Out Of Your Company

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How to take cash out of your company without getting hit with a massive tax bill?

How To Take Cash Out of Your Company

Being a sole trader or partnership, one thing is really simple: taking cash out. No strings attached. Your business bank account is all yours. As a company, it it isn’t. 

Sole Trader and Partnership

As a sole trader or partnership, your business and you are one. Your business is not a separate legal entity, but part of you. So your business cash is your cash. 

How much you take doesn’t affect your tax position. You already paid tax on the business profits at your marginal tax rate.

Company

But all this changes in a company. Now you and your business are no longer one, but two. You are a legal entity. And your company is another. The company’s cash is no longer your cash.

So how do you take money out of your company? There are 5 ways and just those 5 – there is no other way.

1 – Wages

The company pays you a wage. Any PAYG withholding you receive back as a tax offset when you do your individual tax return.

Wages are included in your assessable income. So you pay tax on any wages you receive.

2 – Dividends

The company declares and pays you a dividend, hopefully with franking credits attached. Franking credits give you a refundable tax offset and hence are like cash. They are a refund of the tax the company already paid.

Dividends are included in your assessable income. So you pay tax on any dividends you receive, but with a tax offset for any franking credits.

3 – Shareholder Loan

You just take money out of the company and book it against shareholder or director loan. Or you pay private expenses from your company’s bank account. Nobody says that you can’t do that. You can.

But the crux is that unless you pay this back by the time your tax return is due, this loan will be treated as a dividend. So it gets included in your taxable income and you pay tax on it. Unless….you make it a Div 7A loan.

4 – Div 7A Loan

This is a common way to take money out of a company – for up to 7 or 15 years – without it hitting your individual tax return as income. You need a formal loan agreement and minimum yearly repayments of interest and principal.

But a Div 7A loan is only a temporary solution. In the end you have to pay it all back. And then your money is back in the company – looking for a new way out.

5 – Capital Distribution

Amounts sitting in your capital profits reserve, for example pre-CGT capital gains, are distributed as capital upon liquidation of your company.

Capital distributions receive generous tax concessions (50% CGT discount, small business CGT concessions), so you pay a lot less tax than if you had received this money as wages or dividends.

So that’s all you have. Those 5 ways. Does all this make sense? Just give me a call, if you get stuck.

 

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Help is Coming

COVID-19 Help for Business

 

Disclaimer: numba does not provide specific financial or tax advice in this article. All information on this website is of a general nature only. It might no longer be up to date or correct. You should contact us directly or seek other accredited tax advice when considering whether the information is suitable to your circumstances.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

Instalment Activity Statement

Instalment Activity Statement

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IAS stands for Instalment Activity Statement. Think of it as a gap filler when you don’t have to lodge a BAS for a certain period.

Instalment Activity Statement

The Instalment Activity Statement (IAS) covers PAYG instalments, PAYG withholding and ABN withholding. These three – nothing else. So no GST.

Your IAS comes in, when a particular period is not covered by your BAS. For example, when you report PAYG W on a monthly basis but your GST on a quarterly basis.

PAYG Instalments

The ATO will tell you whether, when and how much you need to pay in PAYG instalments on your so-called instalment income.

Your instalment income includes dividends, interest, profits you made as a sole trader or through a partnership and other income that is not subject to any other withholding, but excluding capital gains. 

PAYG Withholding

For PAYG withholding you are either a small, medium or large withholder depending on your PAYG withholding. 

As a small withholder (less than $25,000 of PAYG W) you report and pay quarterly – through your BAS if you report GST quarterly, otherwise your IAS.

As a medium withholder ($25k to $1m of PAYG W) you report and pay monthly – whether through your BAS or IAS depends on what you do for GST.

Large withholders (more tha $1m) are complicated, so let’s put those aside.

ABN Withholding

If a supplier does not provide an ABN to you for goods and services of more than $75 (excluding GST), you need to withhold the top rate of tax from the payment and report this through your IAS or BAS.

IAS v BAS

If you are not registered for GST, you don’t have any Business Activity Statements (BAS) to worry about. All your reporting is done through an IAS – either monthly, quarterly or annually.

But if you are registered for GST, then it gets more complicated, especially if your GST and PAYG instalments or withholding are on different reporting cycles.

You might do your BAS quarterly but might be a medium withholder for PAYG Withholding and hence need to report PAYG W on a monthly basis. In that case you do both. You lodge your BAS quarterly, but then lodge an IAS for the months in between.

Does this make sense so far? Just call me if you get stuck. My number is 0407 909 779. I am Heide.

 

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Disclaimer: numba does not provide specific financial or tax advice in this article. All information on this website is of a general nature only. It might no longer be up to date or correct. You should contact us directly or seek other accredited tax advice when considering whether the information is suitable to your circumstances.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

Small Business CGT Concessions

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This overview of small business CGT concessions will give you a rough road map of the most generous concession for small business in Australia. 

Small Business CGT Concessions

Imagine the small business CGT concessions didn’t exist. Let’s say you have a small business. And your business is your life. Started from scratch 30 years ago. Risked the family home during the GFC for it. Risked everything. Gave dozens of people good steady jobs. Was part of the engine that drives Australia.

Now you get an offer to sell with a $1m capital gain. How much do you get to keep? 53% – the ATO will take the other 47%, assuming that you have other income and the capital gain fully hits the top marginal tax rate.

Doesn’t feel right. So can you see why we need the small business CGT concessions? To make sure your life’s work doesn’t evaporate in tax. If you qualify, you will pay little or no tax. It can change your life.

Do You Qualify In Principle?

The small business CGT concessions are very generous. But to qualify you have to pass three hurdles. 

Hurdle # 1   Basic Conditions

The basic conditions are your first hurdle. To pass these basic conditions, you need to meet one of 4 conditions – A, B, C or D. It is an either-or proposition. If you fail one, you can still get through with another.

A – Turnover 

You need to carry on a business and have a turnover of less than $2m. This is called the small business turnover test. If you don’t pass it, just keep going. Maybe you pass the net asset value test.

B – Net Asset Value 

You pass the maximum net asset value test, if you have net assets of $6m or less. Your net assets include your interest in the business you sell as well as certain assets of your affiliates and connected entities. But your net assets don’t include your main residence, personal use assets and superannuation for this test.

C – Partnership

If the asset you sell is a partnership asset, then the partnership as a whole must carry on a business and meet the turnover test. If that fails, then the your proportionate share of the partnership will go into your net asset value test under B.

D – Passively Held

If the asset is passively held and used by an associate or connected entity in a small business entity, you pass.

You only need to pass one of these four. Take a capital intensive business like a farm as an example. It might hold land worth more than $6m, but have a turnover of less than $2m, and hence qualify.

Hurdle # 2     Active Asset Test

The active asset test is your second hurdle. You need to always pass this test. This means that the asset must have been part of your business. ‘Used or held ready for use’ is the term they use.

Hurdle # 3      Shares or Units

And the third hurdle only applies if shares or units are involved. If they are not, skip this one. You are done.

If your set up includes shares or units, then this turns into a different ball game. It will get a lot more complicated. How this all works is a long story that we will cover later.  So for now let’s just assume that no shares or units are involved. That you are a sole trader selling your business. 

Do You Qualify For a Specific Exemption?

So you qualified in principle. But what do you actually get? It depends which specific concession you qualify for.

 There are 4 small business CGT concessions. Each of these four is unique with its own set of rules and requirements. Would be boring otherwise. And how you combine these four is important as well and might result in different tax outcomes.

Subdiv 152-B    15-Year Exemption

The first and most generous exemption is the 15-year exemption. It is unique in that it exempts the entire capital gain without any cap. Think about that. The entire capital gain: Tax-free.

This exemption takes priority over the other three exemptions. And it applies before any capital loss offset. So you can keep your capital losses and still get the entire capital gain tax-free.

But to pass you must have owned the asset for at least 15 years and be at least 55 years old. 

And the CGT event must happen in connection with your retirement or permanent incapacitation. What is or isn’t “in connection with your retirement” is often a point of contention though.

If you qualify for the 15-year exemption, you can stop reading here. Anything that comes after this won’t affect you anymore since your entire capital gain is disregarded. This exemption has priority. If you qualify, it applies whether you like it or not. But we have never met a living soul who doesn’t like this one.

Subdiv 152-C   50% Reduction 

This one is easy. The moment you pass the basic conditions, you have this one in your pocket. You don’t have to apply it but you can.

The 50% reduction allows you to reduce a capital gain by a further 50%. Why further? Because you probably already got the 50% CGT discount if you held the asset for at least 12 months.

So now in addition you get the 50% small business reduction when you pass the basic condition. And after that you can still apply the other two exemption, hopefully reducing your capital gain to zero.

Subdiv 152-D    Retirement Exemption

This one is also easy even though it comes with slightly more fineprint. You can claim a capital gain of up to $500,00 as exempt. But not more – ever. That is the lifetime cap.

And there is one more catch. If you are under 55, you have to pay the exempted amount into super. Some people don’t like that. And so they skip this one or park it. The secret word is J5. Sounds confusing – I know.

Here is an example how this works out in conjunction with the 50% reduction.  Let’s say the capital gain is $4m. The 50% CGT discount brings it down to $2m. The 50% reduction brings it down to $1m. And then you and your spouse claim $500,000 retirement exemption each. And voila. You walk away with $4m tax-free in your pocket. Not bad.

Subdiv 152-E  Rollover 

This one will buy you time. Your capital gain is not disregarded just yet, but you defer paying tax on it.

This rollover relief allows you to defer the capital gain for at least two years or beyond two years if you acquire a replacement active asset or incur capital expenditure on active assets. You can choose to rollover the entire capital gain or just a portion after the 50% reduction and retirement exemption. The decision is yours.

If you don’t acquire a replacement asset withing the 2 years, you trigger CGT event J5. But guess what? That might be exactly what you had inteded.

By now you might be 55 and no longer have to put the retirement exemption into super. So now you apply the retirement exemption and walk away with the cash tax-free. 

So that was a quick small business CGT concession overview to give you a rough idea. To show you what is possible.

But don’t give up if this sounds too confusing. Just ask your accountant or ask us. My number is 0407 909 779 – just call me. I am Heide Robson.

 

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