New Increased Super Contribution Caps As the end of financial year gets closer, some investors are thinking about the most effective ways to boost their super balance, particularly with an increase in the caps on contributions from 1 July. The concessional contributions cap, which is the maximum in before-tax contributions you can add to your super each year without paying extra tax, is increasing to $30,000 from $27,500 in the new financial year.i The cap increases in line with average we...

We’re all now only too aware of the risk of cybercrime after the well-publicised data hacks of Medibank Private and Optus. Although these crimes involved large organisations, email scams, cyberattacks and online scams also represent a major risk for small businesses, particularly if you don’t have the funds or knowhow to strengthen your digital security. The latest Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Annual Cyber Threat Report warned no-one was immune to cyber threats, with ...

Pre-Election Australian Federal Budget 2022-23 The Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has handed down Australia’s pre-election Federal Budget for 2022-23, his 4th Budget.  The Budget pushes cash hand-outs into the wallets of Australians through temporary measures such as one-off payments and petrol excise cuts. With many measures tailing off in July-September 2022, it is clearly geared as an Election Budget, with the nation waiting for the Election date to be called.  Here is our br...

New COVID Support from Federal and NSW Government On 13 July 2021, the Federal and NSW Governments announced extra support for NSW residents impacted by the latest Sydney lockdown.  Here is a summary of the support now on offer: Federal support - Covid-19 Disaster Payment a payment of up to $600 per week (up from the previous $500) for individuals impacted by Covid lockdowns. The full $600 payment is for workers who have lost more than 20 hours of work per week.  ...

Investing in recovery In his third and possibly last Budget before the next federal election, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is counting on a new wave of spending to ensure Australia's economic recovery maintains its momentum. As expected, the focus is on jobs and major new spending on support for aged care, women and first-home buyers with some superannuation sweeteners for good measure. With the emphasis on spending, balancing the Budget has been put on the back burner until employme...