Posted in Tax Obligations

  If you carry on all or part of your employment activities from home, then you may be eligible to claim a portion of your expenses as a tax deduction. Ideally, you should have a room set aside as a home office. The area must be clearly identifiable as a place of work and used almost exclusively for work purposes. The expenses you can claim are: Heating, cooling and lighting Decline in value (depreciation) of home office furniture and fittings Dec...

  What does this mean for you? As part of the 2013-14 Budget the Government announced that it will gradually phase out the Net Medical Expenses Tax Offset (NMETO) with a "use it or lose it" system. This will mean if you do not claim the NMETO in your 2012-13 tax return, you will not be eligible for the offset in any future year. If you received the NMETO in your 2012-13 tax return, you will be eligible to receive the offset for all eligible out-of-pocket...

  The first annual Taxable Payments Report is due 28 July 2013 (or 21 July for those businesses who lodge monthly Business Activity Statements) for businesses primarily in the building and construction industry who have made payments to subcontractors during the year ending 30 June 2013. The Government has designed this report to improve compliance with tax obligations by those contractors who are currently not doing the right thing. However, the reporting obligation...