Federal Government passes Fair Work Amendment Bill

The Federal Government has finally passed the Fair Work Amendment bill, which includes both minor and major changes to industrial relations law.

Some of the key changes:

– Unfair Dismissal. The big issue for small businesses is that the new legislation has extended the unfair dismissal application to 21 days.

– Fair Work now has more power to strike down applications for award rate changes that have no reasonable prospects for success.

– There are some major changes to the role of unions, with Fair Work ruling that bargaining notices have to be more specific and that union officials can no longer be a bargaining representative for employees that do not belong to that union.

-There are also a few key changes to enterprise agreements, with clauses that allow employees to ‘opt out’ now prohibited. As well the act now bans anyone from making an enterprise agreement with just one employee.

Business Fraud

Last year business fraud over $100,000 hit the courts more than 61 times, totalling more than $131 million.

There are a few ways to minimise the potential of business fraud happening.

–       Start at the recruitment phase. Look for employment gaps in the potential employees history, do an internet search to see whether someone left under improper circumstances.

–       Notice different or anti-social behaviour of employees. Also look for circumstances changing, such as their partner losing their job or an illness in the family. These things happen to everyone, but it can cause a lot of stress and anxiety and may cause them to find risky solutions to their problems.

–       Check on the accounting systems in place. Avoid having all the business asset eggs in one basket. Separate responsibilities for those who record and those who have power to confirm any changes.

– Regularly review bank reconciliations to check for a growing discrepancy between accounting records and actual cash and be aware of who can authorise payments and change accounting records.

Preparing for the second half of the financial year

Businesses should start reviewing whether their accounting systems are keeping track of all revenue and expenses, together with any private use of business assets.

Planning ahead can save significant tax penalties, which start at 25 per cent of the unpaid tax to as high as 75 per cent.

There are a few key areas business owners should focus on.

–       Go through each employee and check whether contractors are actually employees, as the ATO has flagged this as an issue they will be cracking down on.

–       Look at whether any new business equipment needs to be bought in order to take advantage of the new $6,500 instant write off.

–       Review quarterly PAYG instalments. If profit is down considerably from last year businesses may wish to reduce their instalments.

–       Businesses may also wish to review personal loan agreements and trust deeds to make sure they comply with the law and that company distributions to owners are properly treated for tax purposes.

Facebook announces search engine

Facebook is urging businesses to increase their proficiency of the social networking site as it announces a new search engine, the Graph Search, which allows users to search their friends, pages and connections for data.

In order to take full advantage of this new update, businesses should make sure their Facebook page is up to date, has active content and contains useful information.

The move is being touted as one that could shake up Google’s ownership of the web search space- potentially completely changing the landscape for business advertising.

As well as being able to search friends and pages connected to them, users can also search through the entire Facebook ecosystem, gathering information from all pages and profiles to bring the results.

Australian economy moved slowly into 2013

The latest pair of indicators show that the economy moved slowly into the new year, with building approvals falling by 2 per cent for the third month in a row. The weakness of the building and other sectors showed itself in a slowing of job ads , which fell by one per cent on the internet and in newspapers. Although a standalone marginal figure, it was the tenth fall in a row, marking the lowest point of jobs advertised in three years. These economic figures point to a general consensus among some leading economists that the job unemployment rate will rise to 5.5 per cent from 5.4 per cent.

This is a still a relatively low unemployment figure but along with the high Australian dollar points to the economy making a slow start to 2013.

Submissions for 2013 tax reforms

The Tax Institute has put forward a number of suggestions to the Federal Government in its 2013 budget submission paper. Among the suggestions are reforms in state tax, calls for a new small business entity and tax deductions for childcare.

One of the key proposals is to make childcare costs fully tax deductible, as opposed to the current 30% rebate. The proposed scheme would encourage mothers to return to the workplace.

The Tax Institute also put forward an idea for a new class of small businesses, which would take the best structures of all small businesses, such as a company, or trust, and create a new classification known as a ‘small business entity’.

There were also suggestions to address “the low level and inflexibility of contributions caps” in regards to Superannuation, especially as media reports continue to suggest the Government will be targeting super funds for revenue.

Tax deductible expenses

Not all purchases made by a business will be tax deductible. Those that are must be related to the earning of income, but even then there are some exceptions.

Some costs have a private component, such as motor vehicle expenses, that must be apportioned between business and private use. Other costs may be totally related to a business, such as the registering of a patent or trademark, but are classed as a capital and therefore not tax deductible.

Some examples of expenses that could be claimed however, include employee salaries and super contributions, advertising, rent or leases, bank fees, interest on loans, freight and insurance, repairs, promotions and giveaways, depreciation of assests and the costs of a registered tax agent.

For more information on what expenses are tax deductible for your business and what records you should be keeping for these, please feel free to contact our office.

GST fraudsters caught out

Goods and service tax (GST) fraudsters are more than likely than ever to be caught out this year, as the ATO plans to increase its audits on GST refund claims by small businesses and investigate cases of serious evasion. As a result of government funding, an extra 11,500 cases will be completed in the 2011-12 financial year. Last year, 28 people were prosecuted for more than $17 million worth of GST-related fraud offences.

Super contributions due

This tax year the ATO will be targeting employers who fail to pay super for contract workers. Many employers fail to realise that some contractors are considered employees under super guarantee law.

If employers fail to pay their super obligations, they will have to lodge a Super Guarantee Charge Statement. This will pay the super guarantee charge to the ATO.

Employers should seek advice in order to determine whether their contractors are eligible for super contributions.

Paid parental leave obligations

As of 1 July 2011, businesses which fail to fulfill the Federal Government’s new ‘paid parental leave’ obligations will receive penalties imposed by the Fair Work Ombudsmen.

Businesses should update their payroll systems to make sure they are fulfilling all relevant obligations. These include:

• Withholding tax from Parental Leave Pay under the usual PAYG withholding arrangements.
• Include Parental Leave Pay in the total amounts on their employee
  
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