Positives and negatives of gearing Negatively gearing an investment property is viewed by many Australians as a tax effective way to get ahead. According to Treasury, more than 1.9 million people earned rental income in 2012-13 and of those about 1.3 million reported a net rental loss. So it was no surprise that many people were worried about how they would be affected if Labor had won the May 2019 federal election and negative gearing was phased out as they had proposed. With the Coali...

Backyard Building Boom - tax implications of redeveloping your property
With house prices rising and well-located land becoming scarce in cities, many Australians are looking for creative ways to tap into the value of their own backyard. Some subdivide, while others take the knock-down and rebuild route. But like most things in life, the tax man takes a close interest when it comes to redeveloping your property, so it's important to get professional advice to ensure you don't ...

Entertainment expenses - what can I claim? The days of the Long Lunches of the 1980s may be well behind us, but there is still a lot of confusion around when entertainment expenses can be claimed as a tax deduction and how this interacts with Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT).  It can be easy to make mistakes that can add a lot to your business's tax bill! 
When is food and drink (and other entertainment) deductible? It can be difficult, at first glance, to determine where you...

Don't lose your life insurance in super! You may have recently received a letter from your super fund, suggesting that your insurance may be cancelled. This is a result of new Federal legislation passed earlier this year. The objective of this legislation is to ensure that people are not paying for insurance that they do not need. The assumption is that people who are no longer contributing to a super fund, most likely also no longer need the insurance available through these funds. ...

With the uncertainty of the federal election now out of the way, we can look forward to some significant reforms to Australia's existing tax system. The Morrison Government went into the election with a comprehensive suite of tax proposals and these are now likely to pass swiftly through Parliament, as the Opposition has indicated it will support the legislation. So just what are the changes we are likely to see when it comes to both our personal tax and the taxes that apply to small ...