4th Quarter 2019

There has been an increased focus by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) on the use of assets held by business entities for private purposes. This includes assets that are genuinely used in the course of the entity’s business operations.

Life does not always go to plan. While we logically know that, most of us don’t plan for the worst - it’s all a bit morbid and time consuming.

The downside of not planning is the potential for hard earned assets to be squandered, family fall-outs, and money handed to the Government that could have been distributed in accord with your wishes. If you are a business owner, then the stakes are even higher.

Another year, another scam. While data driven crime is more sophisticated and difficult to address than ever, human error and judgement remains one of the major problems.

SMSF MEMBERSHIP LIMIT CHANGES

Rushed into Parliament before the break was a bill enacting the Government’s 2018-2019 Budget measure increasing the maximum number of allowable members in a Self-Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) from four to six. The measure is before the Parliament but unlikely to be addressed before the election.