3rd Quarter 2015

15 JANUARY 2015

• Income tax return for taxable large/medium business taxpayers (all entities other than individuals) due date for lodging, unless required earlier.

• Payment for companies and super funds was due 1 December 2014.

21 JANUARY 2015

• December 2014 monthly activity statement except for small business clients who report GST monthly and lodge electronically using a registered agent.

28 JANUARY 2015

• Super guarantee contributions for Quarter 2 (October – December 2014) are to be made to the fund by this date. Employers who do not pay minimum super contributions for Quarter 2 by this date must pay the super guarantee charge and lodge a Superannuation guarantee charge statement - quarterly (NAT 9599) with the ATO by 28 February 2015. Remember, the super guarantee charge is not tax deductible.

21 FEBRUARY 2015

• December 2014 monthly activity statement - due date for lodgement and payment.

• January 2015 monthly activity statement - due date for lodgement and payment.

28 FEBRUARY 2015

• Quarter 2 activity statements (October - December 2014) - due date for lodgement and payment (all lodgement methods).

• Income tax return for non-taxable large/medium business taxpayers as per latest year lodged (all entities other than individuals) due date for lodging.

• Self-managed superannuation fund annual return for newly registered self-managed super funds (SMSF) is due on this date for lodgement and payment. You need to ensure you leave enough time for the audit report to be completed to enable lodgement of the SMSF annual return by the due date.

• Annual GST return or information report if taxpayer does not have a tax return lodgement obligation (if taxpayer has a tax return obligation, this return/report must be lodged by the lodgement due date of the tax return).

• Superannuation guarantee charge (SGC) statement - quarterly and paying the super guarantee charge for Quarter 2 (October – December 2014), if the employer did not pay enough contributions on time. The super guarantee charge is not tax deductible.

21 MARCH 2015

• February 2015 monthly activity statement – due date for lodgement and payment.

31 MARCH 2015

• Income tax return for companies and super funds with total income in excess of $2 million in the latest year lodged (excluding large/medium business taxpayers) – due date for lodging, unless due earlier. Payment for companies and super funds in this category is also due by this date.

You must make super contributions for an employee if you're considered an employer for super guarantee purposes and your employee is entitled to the super guarantee.

You must pay contributions into a complying super fund or retirement savings account (RSA) and pass on your employee’s tax file number (TFN) to their super fund where you are required to do so. Your employees may be entitled to choose their super fund – if so; you must provide them with a form enabling them to make their choice.

As of 1 July 2014, you must pay a minimum of 9.5% of each employee's ordinary time earning each quarter in super. The Government has announced the rate will remain at 9.5% until 30 June 2021 and then increase by 0.5 percentage points each year until it reaches 12%.

Each year the ATO identifies industries where employers are a greater risk of not making super contributions for their employees. This year the focus is on employers in the following industries:

• child care services;
• pubs, bars and taverns; and
• industrial cleaning.

In early 2015 the ATO will write directly to employers in these industries. The letter is to educate and remind employers of their super obligations and advise of super obligation audits of these industries from July 2015.

In order to meet your super guarantee obligations as an employer you must:

• contribute at a rate of 9.5%;
• make contributions by the quarterly cut-off dates (28 October, 28 January, 28 April, 28 July);
• pay super for eligible contractors, even if the contractor quotes an Australian Business Number;
• keep accurate records;
• give an employee's tax file number to their super fund within 14 days of receiving it; and
• lodge a Superannuation guarantee charge statement quarterly if you haven’t paid the correct amount by the cut-off date.

SMSF - RESIDENCY RULES

Your SMSF needs to be a resident regulated super fund at all times during the income year to be a complying super fund and receive tax concessions. This means your fund needs to meet the definition of an ‘Australian superannuation fund’ for tax purposes.

An SMSF is an Australian superannuation fund if it meets all of these conditions:

• your fund was established in Australia, or at least one of the fund's assets is located in Australia;
• the central management and control of your fund is ordinarily in Australia;
• your fund either has no active members or it has active members who are Australian residents and who hold at least 50% of the total market value of your fund's assets attributable to super interests, or
• the sum of the amounts that would be payable to active members if they decided to leave the fund.

If your fund stops being a complying fund because it does not satisfy the residency rules its assets (less certain contributions) and its income are taxed at the highest marginal tax rate.

Here are some ways to avoid these consequences:

• If members are planning on going overseas, seek professional advice about maintaining the residency status of your SMSF.
• If your SMSF fails the residency test, rollover your funds to a resident regulated super fund and wind up the SMSF. Otherwise the ATO will have to make the fund non-complying.
• If a non-resident member of your SMSF wishes to make or receive contributions, they should consider making or receiving these outside of their SMSF, for example to an industry super fund. They can then rollover the contributions to their SMSF when they return as an Australian resident for tax purposes.

EXAMPLE

Tom and Mary were trustees and members of a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF).

Tom worked outside of Australia for three years. As a result, the SMSF failed to meet the residency rules and no longer met the definition of an Australian superannuation fund (under section 295-95(2) of the ITAA 1997). Because the SMSF is not an Australian superannuation fund, it cannot be a complying superannuation fund (under subsection 42A(1) of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1992).

As a result its assessable income would be taxed at a rate of 47% for 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 income years and it would lose almost half its assets in a one-off additional tax bill in the year that it became non-complying.

From 1 July 2014, the NSW State Budget announced several changes to the New Home Grant scheme.

The following changes apply to agreements for sale or transfers made on or after 1 July 2014:

• The New Home Grant will only be available to purchasers (including transferees) who are Australian citizens, Australian residents or an Australian-owned body.
• The grant is only available to one purchaser per financial year. If a purchaser receives a grant for a transaction which occurred in a financial year commencing 1 July, the purchaser will not be eligible for a further grant on another transaction in that financial year.
• The requirement to process a New Home Grant off the plan application within three months of the date of execution of the agreement for sale or transfer (where there is no agreement) has been removed.

All other eligibility requirements for the New Home Grant prior to the amendments still apply to contracts dated on or after 1 July 2014.

For agreements or transfers executed on or after 1 July 2014, there will be a new application form for New Home Grant transactions. This will be available at www.osr.nsw.gov.au from 1 July 2014.

You will need to ensure that you have all of the required evidentiary documents when processing a New Home Grant application.