The ATO has published a fact sheet to assist employers in determining if they have an FBT liability where cars are garaged at employees’ homes because of COVID-19. The fact sheet states that the ATO will accept that an employer isn’t holding a car for the purposes of providing fringe benefits where the car isn’t […]
The ATO has updated its employees guide for work expenses for 2019–2020. The document is designed to assist employees to determine whether incurred expenses are tax deductible, and outlines the substantiation requirements. The following are highlighted as being new for 2019–2020: The additional method for calculating running expenses incurred as a result of working from […]
The ATO has issued an update on residency and source of income. It deals with issues from the perspectives of an Australian resident and a foreign resident in the context of a change of residency due to COVID-19. In terms of Australian residents, the update addresses those who are temporarily overseas and those who have […]
The ATO has “clarified” its position on loans put on hold during COVID-19. The ATO will consider a debt to be forgiven for tax purposes if: the debtor is somehow relieved from the legal obligation to repay it; or there is evidence that the creditor won’t insist on repayment or rely on the obligation for […]
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on 3 August 2020 a Federal Government “pandemic leave disaster payment”. The payment will be a one-off amount of $1,500, available to workers in Victoria who have no sick leave available who have to self-isolate for 14 days as a result of an instruction by a public health officer. It […]
For JobKeeper fortnights beginning on or after 3 August 2020, the reference date for determining certain employee eligibility conditions has been changed from 1 March 2020 to 1 July 2020. The purpose of this change is to extend the scope of JobKeeper so that “it also benefits employers of more recently engaged employees”. Importantly, the changed […]
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced further changes to JobKeeper on 7 August 2020. The changes are intended to ensure that eligibility for the revised JobKeeper scheme – to commence on 28 September 2020 – will be based on a single quarter tax period, rather than multiple quarters as previously announced. Employees hired as at 1 […]