Walker Hill Group

The Australian Federal Budget 2018/2019

WHAT WENT DOWN ON BUDGET NIGHT?

And now for the moment we have all been waiting for, the 2018-2019 budget has finally been released and the Walker Hill team could not be more excited!

What’s that, you’re not as curious as us accounting folk? Well you should be. With added tax cuts for individuals and new tax thresholds released, boy do we have some announcements for you. Keep reading.

 

Key Highlights for Businesses

Accelerated Depreciation Asset Deduction

The government has announced an extension on the $20,000 immediate deduction on accelerated depreciation assets for small businesses until June 30, 2019. We all love an immediate deduction.

Research & Development (R&D)

Changes have been made to R&D tax incentives, including:

For companies with an aggregated annual turn over of UNDER $20 million:

  • A $4 million cap will be introduced on cash refunds for R&D claimants (excluding clinical trials)
  • The refundable R&D tax offset will become a premium of 13.5 percentage points above the company’s tax rate for that year

For companies with an aggregated annual turn over of OVER $20 million:

  • An R&D premium will be introduced, tying the rates of the non-refundable R&D tax offset to the incremental intensity of R&D expenditure as a proportion of total expenditure for the year.
  • The maximum amount of R&D expenditure eligible for concessional R&D tax offsets will be increased to $150 million per annum. 

ATO Report Payments

Additional trades have been added to the list of industries that will be required to lodge annual reports to the ATO from July 1, 2019, including:

  • Security providers and investigation services;
  • Road freight transport; and
  • Computer system design and related services.

Salary & Wage Tax Deductions

Employers who do not keep up with their PAYG obligations will no longer be able to claim a tax deduction for payments to employees, such as staff wages.

 Furthermore, businesses will also lose the ability to claim deductions for payments made to contractors where the contractor does not provide an ABN and the business does not withhold PAYG.

Significant Global Entity (SGE)

As of July 1 this year, the definition of an SGE will be expanded to include:

  • Members of large multinational groups headed by private companies, trusts and partnerships; and
  • Members of groups headed by investment entities.

Limits On Cash Payments

From July 1, 2019, a limit of $10,000 will be introduced for cash payments made to businesses for goods and services.

Thin Capitalisation Rules

Rules are soon to be tightened, requiring entities to align the value of their assets for thin capitalisation purposes with the value included in their financial statements.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT)

Partners that alienate their income by creating, assigning or otherwise dealing in rights to the future income of a partnership will no longer be able to access the small business CGT concessions in relation to these rights.

Goods & Service Tax (GST)

As of July 1, 2019, the GST will be extended to offshore sellers of all hotel accommodations in Australia, to ensure they calculate the GST in the same way as local providers.

Luxury Car Tax

The luxury car tax will be removed when cars are re-imported into Australia following a refurbishment overseas. These changes will take place from January 1, 2019.

Tobacco & Craft Brewers

From July 1 next year, tobacco importers will be required to pay all duty and tax liabilities upon importation.

The alcohol excise refund scheme cap will be increased to $100,000 per financial year. Additionally, the concessional draught beer excise rates will be extended to 8 litres or greater kegs from 1 July, 2019.

 

Key Highlights for Investors

Deductions will be denied for expenses associated with holding vacant land. 

 

Key Highlights for Individuals and Families

Personal Income Tax Cuts

Personal income tax cuts will be delivered as part of a seven-year plan to remove a tax bracket, which will result in around 94% of taxpayers being subject to a marginal tax rate of 32.5% by July 1, 2024.

Low and Middle-Income Tax Offset (LIMITO)

As of the 2018-2019 financial year, we will see the introduction of LIMITO. This change will be applied as a non-refundable tax offset after an individual lodges their income tax return.

Testamentary Trusts

The concessional tax rates available for minors receiving income from testamentary trusts will be limited to income derived from assets that are transferred from the deceased estate or the proceeds of the disposal or investment of those assets.

Family Trusts

From July 1, 2019, all family trusts will be subject to a specific anti-avoidance rule that applies to other closely held trusts that engage in circular trust distributions.

High Profile Figures, Sportspeople and Actors

From 1 July 2019, high profile individuals will no longer able to take advantage of lower tax rates by licensing their fame or image to another entity.

Medicare Levy Low Income Threshold

 

Pensioner Finance

The Pension Work Bonus will increase from $250 to $300 per fortnight, as of July 1, 2018. The pension work bonus will also be expanded to allow self-employed retirees to earn up to $300 per fortnight without impacting their pension. 

 

Superannuation Key Highlights

Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSFs)

SMSFs with a history of good record keeping and compliance (at least three consecutive years of clear audit reports and annual returns lodged on time) will only be required to have their fund audited every three years.

Retirement Income Strategy

Laws will be amended to introduce a retirement covenant that will require superannuation trustees to formulate a retirement income strategy for superannuation fund members.

Furthermore, an exemption to the work test will be introduced for people aged 65 to 74 with superannuation balances below $300,000, who make voluntary contributions to superannuation.

Crack Down Concessional Cap Breeches

An individual whose income exceeds $263,157 and has multiple employers will be able to nominate that their wages from certain employers are not subject to the superannuation guarantee (SG).

Other ‘Super’ News

From July 1, 2019, a ban on exit fees from all superannuation funds will be introduced, along with a 3% annual cap on passive fees on accounts with balances below $6,000.

Superannuation funds will also be required to transfer all inactive superannuation accounts with balances below $6,000 to the ATO.

Insurance within superannuation will move to an opt-in basis for:

  • Members with low balances of less than $6,000;
  • Members under the age of 25 years; and
  • Members whose accounts have not received a contribution in 13 months and are inactive.

The maximum number of allowable members in new and existing SMSFs and small APRA funds will increase from four to six.

 Please note: All information has been acquired from the Australian Federal Budget 2018—2019 report. If you would like more details or have any questions regarding the budget, please contact Walker Hill on 07 3367 3155.

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