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Do you provide your employees with a ute believing it’s Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) free? It is generally believed that where an employer provides an employee with a utility type of vehicle, it will be exempt from FBT, in fact, eligible vehicles are only exempt from FBT where private use of the vehicle is ‘minor, infrequent and irregular’.
Read MoreTuesday night the Federal Government handed down its budget for the 2018-19. This budget promises to deliver a suite of tax cuts for individuals at various income levels. As with all budgets each proposal must be passed by Parliament before they’re legislated. We have summarised the main tax announcements below.
Read MoreFor businesses with 20 or more employees, Single Touch Payroll reporting starts 1 July 2018, and 1 July 2019 for businesses with 19 or less employees (subject to legislation passing).
Read MoreThe ATO have introduced a new 12.5% withholding tax (foreign resident capital gains withholding or FRCGW) on the sale of Australian properties where the contract price is $750,000 or more to capture capital gains tax on non-resident investors. The withholding tax applies on all sale contracts above $750,000, previous legislation was $2 million, unless the vendor is provided with a clearance certificate from the ATO showing you are an Australian resident. These new rules apply to transactions under contracts entered into from 1 July 2017.
This means that if you are purchasing or selling Australian property for $750,000 or above from now onwards, you will have an obligation to either withhold tax (unless you are provided with a clearance certificate) or apply for a clearance certificate. SALO. is able to guide you through the application of this tax in your personal situation and apply for the clearance certificate on your behalf. The ATO issues clearance certificates within 28 days of receiving the application, therefore it is important to apply for a clearance certificate well before the settlement date of the property.
Foreign residents are not eligible for a clearance certificate, however they are able to apply for a withholding tax variation if the actual tax they pay on the capital gain will be less than 12.5% of the sale proceeds.
As always, if you have any questions about the withholding tax or any other tax related matters, please contact us.
At SALO we send out regular emails to our clients, partners and associates when there has been a significant change in the tax legislation. If you want to be added to our email list feel free to send our tax specialist Lauren a quick note at lauren@salostrategic.com.au.