FLB Tax Accountants
Publications
Tax Updates
The ATO has advised of a period of grace for businesses which may have inadvertently purchased software with a sales suppression function. It is illegal to manufacture, distribute, possess, use or sell such software (often termed "phantomware" or "zappers"), with a potential penalty of up to 5,000 penalty units (ie over $1 million). The ATO has found cases of taxpayers using such software to deliberately not report all their cash income, falsely report regular losses and/or manipulate their employee obligations.
However, businesses may have inadvertently purchased software with a suppression function. If the software was purchased before 9 May 2017 (the date the measures were announced), they have until 3 April 2019 to advise the ATO without penalty being applied. The ATO reiterated the need for taxpayers to keep detailed records of every transaction.
SMSF Updates
The ATO has also warned that, if a trustee fails to lodge a TBAR that is due by 28 October 2018, the member's transfer balance account will be adversely affected, the member may be penalised and there may be reverse workflow for the trustee to take care of. Of course, if no transfer balance account event occurred between 1 July 2017 and 30 September 2018, there is nothing to report, the ATO said. However, earlier reporting timeframes apply if a member has exceeded their transfer balance cap.
The ATO reminded SMSF trustees that they can choose to report events as they occur. In some instances, the ATO recommends reporting events as they occur to avoid potentially negative consequences.
Finance Updates
​ASIC has announced a review of compliance by financial advisers with their obligations to provide fee disclosure statements (FDSs) and renewal notices to get clients to opt-in for ongoing fee arrangements every 2 years. ASIC will also check FDSs to ensure the content is accurate and describes what customers are charged for and what services customers have received.
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