Sometimes business owners are required to create tax invoices on behalf of their suppliers. This type of tax invoice is known as a recipient created tax invoice (RCTI). For more specific information about the RCTI, go to our blog here – there’s a free fact sheet to download! The main thing about the RCTI is that you must ensure the information you are using to create them is current and correct. The ATO has an updated template for you to download. This template will help you create the perfect RCTI!
Once upon a time, believe it or not, you couldn’t pre-pay your tax – no, really! If you tried to do this, the ATO would just refund it straight back to you because they didn’t know what to do with it! Well, as of January 2016, this has all changed!
This week we want to bring a very serious issue to your attention. There are scammers out there calling people under the guise of being employees from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) and demanding money from innocent tax payers in an intimidating & threatening manner.
With all of the web content being thrown at us daily via email and social media, it’s hard to know what’s worth reading and what’s just rubbish! If you’re a busy business owner like me, you can’t read everything, there’s just not enough time in the day. However, as a business owner, you also know that there is information out there that you should be across, particularly in relation to taxation, GST and employing. Most of this information can be found on the Australian Taxation Office website, but again, there is a mountain of data to read there, so where do you start? To save you time, I have compiled a list of ATO links I believe will be the most useful for business owners. Take a read through and bookmark the links of interest to you.
There are 2 newsletters to which you can subscribe that regularly provide information about employment issues, GST, Superannation, lodging and paying tax, fringe benefits tax and other general tax advice. The “Small Business Newsroom” is specifically for small business owners while the “Business Bulletins” is directed at medium to large businesses.
Need to discuss a taxation issue with the ATO but you’re just too busy during the day? No matter, you can now book an after hours call via the above link. Once booked, a consultant will call you back at the time you specified – a great service! For those who prefer not to talk via telephone, there is also a web chat service. I have also provided the link to telephone numbers you can call during the day if the other 2 options don’t suit you.
From time to time, you may need quick access to taxation booklets, forms or other information. One of the best ways to obtain this information is by ordering it online from the ATO. The information will be sent you either via post or email depending on the product.
The ATO has provided the ability for business owners to connect with the ATO electronically for several years now. Business owners can log into their business portal and lodge their own BAS and other forms and can correspond securely with the ATO as required. I highly recommend that all business owners review their options in this space as the ATO is moving further and further towards online platforms and those who ignore this will get left behind. The link above provides more information about this topic.
Need to find some taxation information quickly? These 2 links may help. “Search” is an alphabetical listing of various topics while “Small business assist” is a service where by you type in your question and a range of websites and pages will be provided related to the information you require.
Not sure when your BAS is due or when you need to pay your employees’ superannuation? This link will help – it’s a list of current key tax lodgement due dates for this financial year.
Here is a group of links for those of you who are employers or who are about to employ staff. They include information on employing for the first time, PAYG withholding (what it is and how it works), a tax withholding calculator, the log-on page to the super clearing house and the super guarantee charge statement and calculator tool (for those who have missed the quarterly super payment due date).
This group of links relate to general taxation information about topics and issues that business owners may find useful, especially the business deductions link.
Having trouble paying tax debt? This link provides information about how to handle this situation.
I hope this list of useful ATO links will prove helpful to you as a business owner. You could bookmark them all or simply bookmark this blog so you can access all links with one click!
As a business owner, do you find yourself using particular ATO web pages all the time? If they aren’t already listed here, please share your links below – they may just help someone else 🙂
Recently one of my clients rang me because her business activity debt was very high and she was panicking because she was unable to pay the debt by the due date. I calmly told her to make a payment arrangement with the ATO so she could pay the debt by instalments. My client told me she had never heard of payment arrangements and wasn’t even aware that this payment option existed. I was surprised by this because I thought it was common knowledge. I wondered how many other business owners out there were oblivious to their tax payment options and decided that the best way to educate them would be via a blog, so here goes!
Are you a new employer? Do you need help with getting started? Do you know what your employer obligations involve? Being an employer is a huge responsibility and brings with it added compliance to which you must adhere if you want to get it right. To assist you in this task, we have created the “Employers’ Toolbox”, a simple guide to getting started including all of the resources you will need along the way.
One of the most useful features found in cloud-based accounting software such as Xero and Saasu is the ability to upload and attach documents to various transactions. This is great because it means that not only are you complying with your record keeping requirements, but you can also verify your purchases with others. By “others” I mean your accountant, bookkeeper and yes, the ATO should they ask for supporting evidence. Most Saasu and Xero users will be aware that they can upload and attach source documents to sales and purchase invoices. What they may not be aware of is that you can also attach documents to journal transactions. Today I will show you how this done in Saasu.
Do you understand why record-keeping is so important (whether you’re in business or not)? No? Well here is your complete why what and how of record-keeping. Learn why you should do it and exactly which documents you should be keeping in today’s blog! This blog will assist you whether or not you are a business owner.
So the BAS lodgement date came and went and you didn’t get around to lodging your BAS – what happens now? The Australian Tax Office (ATO) doesn’t look favorably on this behaviour. If they see fit, you may just find yourself having to pay late lodgement penalties. What are these penalties and how much will you have to pay if charged?
Are you a new employer? Do you need help with getting started? Do you know what your employer obligations involve? Being an employer is a huge responsibility and brings with it added compliance to which you must adhere if you want to get it right. To assist you in this task, we have created the “Employers’ Toolbox”, a simple guide to getting started including all of the resources you will need along the way.
