4th Quarter 2017

Currently, an individual can claim a tax offset up to a maximum of $540 for contributions they make to their spouse's eligible super fund if, among other things, the total of the spouse's assessable income, total reportable fringe benefits and reportable employer super contributions is under $13,800.

GST ON LOW VALUE IMPORTED GOODS

Proposed amendments are currently before parliament, to ensure that GST is payable on certain supplies of low value goods that are purchased by consumers and imported into Australia from 1 July 2017. 

CHANGES TO NON-CONCESSIONAL (AFTER-TAX) CONTRIBUTIONS CAP

Non-concessional (after-tax) contributions include:

• personal contributions for which you do not claim an income tax deduction, and

• spouse contributions.

If you have more than one super fund, all non-concessional contributions made to all of your funds are added together and counted towards the non-concessional contributions cap. 

INVESTMENT PROPERTY AND BORROWING THROUGH SMSFS

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is tightening their rules on people buying investment property through their self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).