Employees Leaving? Here’s What You Need to Know About Final Payments

Most small businesses in Australia employ people. One of the most common payroll errors is incorrect processing of termination payments when employees leave.

With the introduction of Single Touch Payroll Phase 2, getting payroll correct is more important than ever, as the data is reported directly to other government agencies. If the payroll detail is not accurate, it could affect employees' benefits or income tax.

Final Payments

Final payments for employees can range from very simple to highly complex. It depends on the circumstances of the termination, the industry, the modern award or registered agreement, age and other factors.

Before you pay an employee who is leaving your business, you’ll need to gather information to ensure accuracy.

  • Final date worked and reason for termination – resignation, retirement, abandonment of work, dismissal, redundancy, end of contract or medical invalidity.
  • Check termination provisions in the relevant award.
  • Check the National Employment Standards for the minimum notice period and redundancy pay if applicable.
  • If you usually pay annual leave loading, this is also paid on termination.
  • Amount of leave owing, and if there are any accrued rostered days off or time in lieu.

A termination payment can be made up of several elements:

  • Final ordinary hours.
  • Unused annual leave, loading and long service leave.
  • Redundancy payment.
  • Pay in lieu of notice.
  • Unused rostered days off.
  • Superannuation.
  • Ex gratia payment.
  • Other payments made in case of death, invalidity, or compensation or as required by certain awards.

Taxation of Termination Payments

Taxation can also be complex for final payments. Some payments are taxed at marginal rates and others at a flat rate. Special codes must be included in some termination pays to notify the ATO of payment types. For some payments, there are thresholds that must be observed that will affect the termination payment's tax rates and taxable amount.

Getting Help

The best general authorities for learning more about termination payments are the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Australian Taxation Office. For more complex payroll and termination payments, our payroll specialist can help, or we can refer you to an employment law expert if needed.

Fixing termination payroll errors can be costly and time-consuming, not to mention problematic for the employee if categories or taxes are incorrect.

Talk to us before paying employees, so you get it right the first time.


COVID-19 tests to be tax deductible

The cost incurred in taking a COVID-19 test will be tax deductible for you as long as the test was used for a work-related purpose.

The legislation has passed through the parliamentary process and will become law. It applies from 1 July 2021, which means you can make claims in your next income tax return.

The new legislation provides a specific deduction and removes any previously held ambiguity about whether an expense for a COVID-19 test was deductible.For the purchase of a COVID-19 test to be tax deductible:

  • must have paid for the test and not been reimbursed by your employer, and
  • were required to take the test before going to work because:
    • of a public health order
    • your employer has asked or required you to take one, or
    • you were previously a positive case and needed to show your employer a negative test before going back to work.

It is important to point out that the deductibility is solely on the requirement to take a test. The test result, or whether you actually worked on the day you took the test, is irrelevant.

Apportionment

You will need to apportion your deduction when you have bought a packet with multiple tests and you have only used some of them for work-related purposes.

Substantiation

It is important to always keep records and receipts of items where you want to claim a tax deduction.

However, if you don’t have the receipts handy, don’t worry. We’ll ask you at tax time to come up with a reasonable calculation for your claim, as the new law comes under rules where you might not have a receipt. This rule generally allows you to make a claim up to $300 for various expenses in your tax return.

If you need to know more about the new allowable deduction, please give us a call. We would be delighted to discuss this with you further.


The importance of business development

Business development is one of the most important areas of focus for any ambitious business.

If you want your business to grow, that’s going to mean having a razor-sharp focus on new opportunities and strategies. That could mean exploring new markets, or nurturing new partnerships. It might mean diversifying to create new revenue streams, or coming up with new ideas to boost your profitability. But, ultimately, good business development comes down to having good ideas – ideas that broaden your reach, sales, revenues and external relationships.

As the founder or CEO, it's important to put business development at the top of your to-do list.

Put time aside for business development

Business opportunities don’t just appear out of thin air (sadly). To come up with an opportunity for a business partnership, or to bring in a big new client, you’re going to have to do some serious work. So, it’s a good idea to put business development (BD) time aside in your diary.

By blocking out time to devote to BD, you can step away from the everyday operational tasks and get into a more creative and objective mindset. Where do you want the business to be in 6 months? What do you need to do to achieve this goal? Are there relationships you could build to bring this plan to life? Asking these questions and getting a more concrete idea of the answers will form the basis for your BD plan – and that’s the route map you can then follow.

Work on your BD plan and strategy

Once you have some positive BD ideas to work with, it’s important to get your goals and your strategy down into some form of plan. As with any kind of growth initiative, your BD activity needs to be well planned, so you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve.

Give each new strategic idea a clear timeline and assign jobs, activities and roles to the relevant people in the team. Cost out each project too, and assign a budget so you can be sure that you’re getting the best return on your investment (both financially and from a time perspective).

Most importantly, though, track your progress against your BD goals. Agree on a target, set a date and measure your progress and performance against that timeline.

Build relationships with potential partners and customers

Relationships lie at the heart of your BD activity. You might be getting to know the executive team at a possible new partner’s company. Or you may be reaching out to a new customer audience with a brand-new product. Getting to understand what makes these people tick is so important to warming them up as a potential partner, customer or supplier.

Trust is the real key here. People are more likely to engage with your business when they trust you as people and as a brand. So, spending time nurturing relationships and networking with other businesspeople and targets is time well spent.

Record, track and analyse your BD performance

With your goals, targets and timelines locked in, you’re ready to start putting this BD plan into action. But to know if you’re making headway, it’s a good idea to track your performance.

If you’re using project management software or a client relationship management (CRM) app, it’s easy to add notes, record your progress and tick off the key actions in the project. You can put the financial reporting tools in your accounting software to good use. Track cashflow for the project, increases in revenue and monitor your sales and marketing expenses etc.

Get ambitious with your BD ideas

No business stands still. Your aims and goals as the owner will change. Your market will evolve and new competitors will appear. Economic conditions and business opportunities will change. To keep your business at the cutting edge, it’s vital to keep your BD focus alive and well.

Remember to:

  • Define your goals and make it clear what you want the business to achieve
  • Align your BD activity with the company’s main growth plan
  • Log your ideas and potential opportunities and add them to your BD plan
  • Warm up your targets and potential partners and keep notes on your progress
  • Track your BD performance against your targets, budgets, revenues and timelines
  • Keep revisiting your plan and flexing your BD activity to the current market.

If you want to expand your business development activity, get in touch with us. We’ll help you highlight the opportunities and draw up the best possible plan for your BD activities.


Business tips - Setting up the compliance foundations

To trade as a business, you need to meet the right compliance requirements. It’s certainly not the most exciting part of creating a business, but setting up the right legal, accounting and tax compliance foundations ensures that you’re doing everything by the letter of the law.

Here are the main compliance steps to think about, and why they’re so important to the smooth running of your business.

Decide on a legal structure for the business

First off, you’ll need to make a decision about the legal structure of the company. There are two key choices here – incorporated (a limited company) or unincorporated (usually either a sole trader or a partnership). The key difference here is around liability. In other words, do you want your business to be a limited company, where you and the business are treated as separate legal entities? Or do you want to be unincorporated, like a sole trader, where you and your business are seen as one single entity.

Most startups will opt for the incorporated limited company route, keeping your personal and business finances separate and lowering your personal liability and risk.

Open a business bank account

To trade, take payments and pay your suppliers, you need to have a business bank account that’s separate from your own current account. This helps to create a tangible divide between the money you’ve generated from the business, and your own personal cash.

Most high-street banks won’t let you use a personal current account for business purposes. Banks will offer a variety of different business accounts, with varying levels of fees, overdraft levels and additional business features. Set up the business account and then use this account for ALL transactions going in or out of the company.

Set up a bookkeeping and accounting system

It’s a legal requirement for your limited company to keep adequate records and to submit annual statutory accounts. To be able to meet these requirements, it’s essential that you have a bookkeeping process and a reliable accounting system in place.

There’s a dazzling choice of different cloud-based accounting platforms aimed at the ambitious startup owner. Xero, QuickBooks, MYOB and Sage are big names in this space, and all offer easy-to-use systems that make the accounting process relatively straightforward. It’s a good idea to engage an accountant, right from the start, to get the best possible accounting advice.

Register for the relevant business taxes

Tax is an unavoidable part of running any business. It’s mandatory for you to register for the relevant business taxes, and you’ll also need to factor in that a certain percentage of your startup’s profits will end up going to the tax authorities at the end of each financial year.

If you’ve opted for the limited company route, you must register for corporation tax in your home territory. Corporation tax is paid based on a percentage of your year-end profits, once reliefs and other allowances have been taken into account. Approximately a quarter of your end profits will end up being paid over in tax, so it’s imperative that you put this money away in a separate tax accounting, or ring-fence it in your accounts, so you have the money to pay the bill at year-end.

Other taxes to register for include:

  • Self-assessment income tax – although you’ll pay corporation tax on your company’s profits, directors are also taxed on their own personal earnings too. If you’re an unincorporated sole trader, this is also the way you’ll be taxed on your business profits, as your personal and business income are treated as the same thing.
  • Goods & Services Tax (GST) – GST (or VAT in the UK and Europe) is an indirect value-added tax or consumption tax for goods and services. If you sell products or services that qualify for GST/VAT, you’re responsible for collecting these taxes and paying them to the tax authority on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis.
  • Pay-as-you-earn(PAYE)/Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) – if you have employees, and your home territory operates a PAYE/PAYG system, you’ll need to make income tax deductions from your employees’ wages and pay these taxes directly to the relevant tax authority. This is all done via your regular payroll run.

Get in touch to talk through your compliance needs. We’ll help you understand which taxes apply and how you register for them.


Business tips: Writing a mission statement

You've had your initial business idea and written a plan. But do you know WHY you're creating this business, or HOW you’ll deliver your end product/service? What will the company's underlying purpose be and how will your core values drive the business?

To get these crucial elements ironed out, it’s a good idea to write a ‘mission statement’ for your startup – a short summary of the aims and values of your business.

WHAT does your business do?

The first thing to pin down is what the business actually does – i.e. at the most basic level, what is the output of your new business idea, and what is its purpose.

Defining this ‘WHAT’ element might sound simple, but describing it in a clear and concise way will help you to begin the process of completing your mission statement. A bicycle manufacturer might define their WHAT as ‘making quality bikes at great prices, for adults and kids to enjoy’. Whereas a creative agency might define their WHAT as ‘delivering creative solutions to our business clients’ design problems’.

HOW does your company do what it does?

Next, have a think about HOW you achieve what you do. How do you deliver your product or service to customers, what operations are involved and what makes your way different?

The bicycle manufacturer might have a big focus on making hand-made bikes, so their HOW could be ‘We make our bikes by hand, and to order, using our 25 years’ experience in the industry to deliver the best possible quality’. While the creative agency might say ‘We use the latest design approaches, coupled with cutting-edge design software, to bring our clients’ design to life’. Both of these statements explain the underlying operational processes in the business, and how each business delivers its product/service to the end customer.

WHY does your company do what it does?

Most businesses are great at defining the WHAT and HOW elements of their business model. ‘I make Product A using Process B’. But it can be a lot harder to define WHY you’re doing this.

Ultimately, the WHY is the most important element of your mission statement. In essence, you’re describing what drives you to do what you do. What are your big aspirations for the business, and what do you want to achieve? For the bicycle manufacturer, the WHY statement may be ‘We want to encourage our community to get on their bikes, become more sustainable and stay healthy’. And the agency may define their WHY as ‘We want to build innovation into everything we do, bringing fresh ideas to our clients’ design’.

What are the core values driving your enterprise?

Your personal values as a founder might not sound like a crucial element to think about. But any new startup is a reflection of the ideas, ambition, drive and values of its founders.

The ways in which you behave, the vision you provide for your team and the ways in which you interact with your first customers will all underline the foundation values of your new business. Think about what drives you. Is it profit and money? Or do you want to change the world in positive ways? Or provide employment and opportunities for your local community?

Bring it all together into your mission statement

If you’ve answered those four questions, then you have everything you need to create a comprehensive and useful mission statement for the business.

For example, for the bicycle manufacturer, it may look like this:

Happy Spokes Bicycles Ltd:

  • What we do: We make quality, sustainable bikes at great prices, building a range of city bikes for adults and kids aged 9 to 90 to enjoy.
  • How we do it: We make our bikes by hand, and to order, using sustainable processes and our 25 years’ experience in the industry to deliver the best possible quality.
  • Why we do it: We believe that cycling is the future. We want to encourage our community to get on their bikes, become more sustainable and stay healthy.
  • Our core values: Our 5 core value pillars are:
    • Sustainability – we strive to limit our impact on the planet and environment
    • Health – we aim to make our customers healthier and fitter
    • Craftsmanship – we believe in keeping hand-made production alive and well
    • Value – we want our bikes to be affordable to all
    • Fun – we aim to make Happy Spokes a fun community to be part of.

With your mission statement written, and a business plan under your belt, you have the best possible foundations on which to build your business enterprise.

Your mission statement can set the foundations for your company’s future.

Talk to us about your startup plans.


2022-23 Federal Budget Highlights

The Federal Treasurer, Mr Josh Frydenberg, handed down the 2022–23 Federal Budget at 7:30 pm (AEDT) on 29 March 2022.

In an economy emerging from the pandemic, the Treasurer has confirmed an unemployment rate of 4% and an expected budget deficit of $78 billion for 2022–23. As international uncertainties add pressure on the cost of living, key measures in the Budget provide cost of living relief in the form of an increased Low and Middle Income Tax Offset, a one off $250 payment for welfare recipients and pensioners and a 6-month fuel excise relief.

Other measures for business seek to promote innovation, with expanded “patent box” tax concessions proposed, and provide tax incentives for small business to invest in the skills of their employees. A lower GDP uplift rate for PAYG and GST instalments has also been proposed to support cash flows of small and medium businesses.

The full Budget papers are available at www.budget.gov.au and the Treasury ministers’ media releases are available at ministers.treasury.gov.au. The tax, superannuation and social security highlights are set out below.

Individuals

  • The low and middle income tax offset will be increased by $420 in the 2021–22 income year to ease the current cost of living pressures.
  • A one-off payment of $250 will be made to individuals who are currently in receipt of Australian government social security payments, including pensions, to ease cost of living pressures.
  • Additional funding will be provided over 5 years to support older Australians in the aged care sector with managing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Costs of taking a COVID-19 test to attend a place of work will be tax deductible for individuals and exempt from fringe benefits tax from 1 July 2021.
  • A single Paid Parental Leave scheme of up to 20 weeks paid leave will replace the existing system of 2 separate payments.
  • CPI indexed Medicare levy low-income threshold amounts for singles, families, and seniors and pensioners for the 2021–22 year announced.
  • The number of guarantees under the Home Guarantee Scheme will be increased to 50,000 per year to assist home buyers who have a lower deposit.

Business

  • Additional state and territory COVID-19 business support grant programs will be eligible for tax treatment as non-assessable non-exempt income until 30 June 2022.
  • Small and medium businesses will be able to deduct an additional 20% of expenditure incurred on external training courses provided to their employees.
  • Small and medium businesses will be able to deduct an additional 20% of eligible expenditure supporting digital adoption.
  • The Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy will be extended by 3 months.
  • Concessional tax treatment will apply from 1 July 2022 for primary producers selling Australian Carbon Credit Units and biodiversity certificates.
  • Access to employee share schemes in unlisted companies will be expanded.
  • The PAYG instalment system is set for a structural overhaul with a set GDP uplift of 2% to apply for the 2022–23 income year.
  • Additional funding will be provided to further reform insolvency arrangements, including the insolvent trading “safe harbour”.
  • Business registry fees will be streamlined over 3 years from 2023–24.
  • Wholly owned Australian incorporated subsidiaries of the Future Fund Board of Guardians will be exempt from corporate income tax.

Excise and customs duty

  • Excise and excise-equivalent customs duty on petrol and diesel will be reduced by 50% from 30 March 2022 for 6 months.
  • The temporary tariff concession for COVID-19 related medical and hygiene products will be made permanent.
  • Administration of fuel and alcohol excise, and excise-equivalent customs duty will be streamlined.

Superannuation

  • The 50% reduction of the superannuation minimum drawdown requirements for account-based pensions will be extended for an additional year.

Innovation

  • Corporate income from the commercialisation of patents, issued from 29 March 2022, in respect to agricultural and veterinary (agvet) chemical products will be taxed at an effective rate of 17% for income years starting from 1 July 2023.
  • The effective tax rate of 17% for the “patent box” regime will also be expanded to include patents that have the potential to lower emissions.
  • Following on from the 2021 Federal Budget announcement of the “patent box” regime for medical and biotechnology innovations, the concessional tax treatment will be expanded to include certain overseas jurisdictions with equivalent patent regimes.

Tax administration

  • Companies will be able to choose to have their PAYG instalments calculated based on current financial performance, extracted from business accounting software, with some tax adjustments.
  • Businesses will be allowed the option to report taxable payments reporting system data (via accounting software) on the same lodgment cycle as their activity statements.
  • Trust and beneficiary income reporting and processing will be digitalised.
  • IT infrastructure will be developed to allow the ATO to share single touch payroll data with state and territory revenue offices.
  • The ATO will be given funding to extend the operation of the Tax Avoidance Taskforce by 2 years.
  • The start date of the 2019–20 Budget measure for holders of Australian Business Numbers will be deferred by 12 months.

Not-for-profits

  • Melbourne Business School Ltd, Advance Global Australians Ltd, Leaders Institute South Australia Inc, St Patrick’s Cathedral Melbourne Restoration Fund, and various entities related to Community Foundations Australia, have been added to the list of specifically DGRs for a period beginning 1 July 2022.

Indirect tax

  • The Indirect Tax Concession Scheme (ITCS) has been granted or extended to various diplomatic and consular representations.


New Family Trust Tax Rules – Will the Changes Impact You?

If your trust pays adult-child beneficiaries, then you’ll need to know how the new ATO tax guidance rules could alter your beneficiary arrangements. The proposed changes won’t affect every small business operating through a trust arrangement, but it’s important to check that existing provisions meet the new requirements.

The ATO has released several related documents as a draft package that outlines specific taxpayer arrangements it is examining. It is interested in agreements where parents benefit from trust income allocated to their children or other family members, particularly where tax avoidance could be an issue, and family member beneficiaries are unaware of the provisions.

Another area of focus is the application of Division 7A rules to trusts that pay private companies, especially with related business entities and where the trust and company are part of the same family group.

Do Your Trust Distribution Arrangements Need to Change?

Trust beneficiary arrangements can be complex, and we want to make sure your trust arrangements meet the ATO guidelines so you don’t get penalised. We’ll examine your situation in detail against the new information and advise you if any changes to trust arrangements are required.

With the ATO’s stronger position on the taxation of trust distributions, it’s essential to review arrangements before the end of this financial year. The new rules are set to apply from 1 July 2022.

Book a tax planning session with us today, so we can make sure you’ve got the best beneficiary arrangement for your business and family.


What’s your net worth?

Calculating your net worth can be a quick and easy way to get an outline of your financial position. By working out your net worth each year, you can get a sense of whether your finances are going in the right direction.

Tracking your net worth can also help you focus on the big picture during those times when it seems like you’re going backwards at a rapid rate – when your car or an appliance breaks down or you dip into your savings to cover an essential but unexpected expense.

How to calculate your net worth

Net worth is assets minus liabilities. The simplest way to work out your net worth is to jot down the value of your assets and then all your debts. Subtract the total value of the debts from the total value of the assets and that’s your net worth.

What should your net worth be?

Net worth tends to increase over time, and there are various formulas saying what you ‘should’ be worth for your age. For example, one estimate says that by age 30 your net worth should be half of your annual income; by 40 your net worth should be double your annual income; by 50 it should be four times your income; and by 60 it should be six times your annual income.

But rather than comparing yourself to a formula, net worth is more useful as a way to monitor your progress. If it’s increasing steadily over time, you’re doing something right.

Want to talk about hitting your financial targets?

If you’d like to talk about reaching your financial goals, either personally or in your business, get in touch. We’ve got lots of ideas and strategies for maximising your income and minimising your costs, and we’d love to hear from you.


Extension of the temporary full expensing regime for your business

Currently, your business is eligible to claim an outright deduction for the cost and installation of new and second-hand assets.

The outright deduction is known as temporary full expensing.

Under legislation enacted by the federal government, a business must hold and use a business asset before 30 June 2023 to qualify for temporary full expensing.

If your business is below the turnover limit of $50 million, you will qualify for temporary full expensing for both new and second-hand assets. This means that, unlike previous rules on instant asset write-offs, no limit applies to the cost of an asset under the temporary full expensing rules (with the exception of cars costing more than the luxury car limit).

What the rules mean for your business

Any eligible new or second-hand assets purchased this year can be immediately written-off. Also, if you are using a small business depreciation pool for depreciation, the entire balance will also be written-off. Unfortunately, small businesses that use the small business depreciation rules cannot “opt out” of the full expensing rules.

This large deduction may not be something you want to claim all at once and would rather smooth out over a number of years. Options available to you in this situation include leasing assets, rather than purchasing them, over the next couple of years.

Alternatively, we may reduce your income tax instalments accordingly so that you can adequately account for cash flow over the year.

Please contact us if you wish to discuss this further, including other options available for your business this year.


E-invoicing protects you against invoice fraud

Is your business using e-invoicing? It’s a fantastic way to protect yourself and your customers from invoice scams, and it can help you get paid faster. E-invoices replace emailed PDF invoices or links to online invoices. Instead, e-invoices are delivered securely to your clients, even across different accounting systems.

Preventing invoice fraud

Invoice scams are surprisingly common, and can be quite sophisticated. For example, with intercepted invoices everything looks exactly right, but the bank account number has been altered. When it happens to you, your client thinks they’ve paid you, but the money has actually gone to a scammer. Notifications from suppliers that their bank account number has changed – but it’s not actually your supplier, it’s fake, and your money is going to a scammer. In the event of an invoice scam, it can be very difficult to get your money back.

E-invoicing prevents these types of scams because the invoices travel directly from one accounting or payment system to another. By directly connecting suppliers with their clients, there’s no opportunity for scammers to intercept the invoices.

Start sending and receiving e-invoices

We can help you set up your accounting software to send and receive e-invoices immediately. You can learn how to set up e-invoicing in Xero at this link, or just get in touch and we can help. You can also use e-invoicing if you don’t use an online accounting platform with one of the free e-invoicing enabled software providers.

It only takes a little bit of time to learn how to use e-invoicing, and once you have the hang of it you’re protected from invoice fraud – so it’s well worth the effort!