Further ways to protect yourself against tax scams
Last week we provided tips on what to do when someone purporting to be from the ATO contacts you by telephone.
However, in today’s interconnected world, information you share online must be protected to prevent scammers impersonating you. With cybersecurity threats becoming an everyday occurrence, you should ensure that your staff and clients keep their personal information (e.g. user IDs, passwords, TFNs) secure and that they do not indiscriminately click on downloads, hyperlinks or open attachments in unsolicited or unfamiliar emails, SMS or social media.
Sharing too much personal information on social media may also put a person at risk of targeted attacks – therefore, ensure social media profiles are set to private and be cautious about which friend requests to accept.
Please speak to us if you are interested to hear about further ways you can safeguard your business against cybersecurity risks and how to recognise scam emails pretending to be from the ATO.
SMSFs: common deductible expenses
A compliant self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) should only make investments for the sole purpose of providing benefits to its members upon their retirement or upon them reaching a certain age. Expenses incurred on investments that do not pass the sole purpose test may make the SMSF non-compliant resulting in a penalty rate of tax of 45% applying to concessional contributions, the income of the SMSF and to the market value of its assets.
Expenses incurred by a SMSF can be deducted according to:
- General deduction principles (e.g. expenses incurred in gaining or producing assessable income such as management and administration fees, audit fees, subscriptions and attending seminars and ongoing investment related expenses – but not expenses of a capital or private nature)
- Specific deduction provisions (e.g. specific deduction for tax related expenses or to comply with a SMSF supervisory levy or death, total and permanent disability, terminal illness and income protection premiums to the extent specified in the relevant law)
- Special rules applying to investments in collectibles and artwork (e.g. insurance costs will only be deductible if the items were insured in the name of the SMSF and storage costs will only be deductible if the reasons for deciding where to store the items are clearly documented).
However, if an expense relates to both accumulation and pension members, the expense may need to be apportioned to determine the amount that the SMSF can deduct – because expenditure will only be deductible to the extent to which expenditure was incurred to produce assessable income.
Outstanding tax debt? We can help you set up a payment plan
We would strongly encourage any business with current outstanding tax debts to engage with your Nexia representative to ensure outstanding tax debts are paid in a timely and affordable manner. We can assist a business in establishing a payment plan with the ATO to avoid or minimise penalties and late interest charges on outstanding tax debts, or alternatively your Nexia representative can arrange solutions to refinance and restructure your debts, in order to manage your cashflow.
While having an ATO payment plan, you still need to lodge all of your ongoing activity statements and tax returns on time and the ATO will expect tax liabilities arising from those lodgements to be paid.