1st Quarter 2017

Australia has introduced a new law applying the Australian Goods and Services Tax (GST) to international sales of digital products and services provided to Australian consumers. Under the new law, overseas businesses will be required to pay GST on these sales from 1 July 2017. 

SuperStream is the way businesses must pay employee superannuation guarantee contributions to super funds. SuperStream transmits money and information consistently across the super system – between employers, funds, service providers and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) electronically in a standard format. The data is linked to the payment by a unique payment reference number.

WARNING AGAINST DIVERTING PERSONAL SERVICES INCOME TO SMSFS

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) are currently reviewing retirement planning schemes. In some instances, they have found individuals diverting personal services income to a self-managed super fund (SMSF) to minimise or avoid income tax obligations.