Other updates - April 2023
Budget 2023-34
The 2023-24 Federal Budget will be released on Tuesday, 9 May 2023. Look out for our update the next day on the important issues to you, your superannuation and your business.
Little has been released to date on the impending Budget beyond the tax on super balances above $3m and the decision not to extend the temporary $1,500 low and middle income tax offset beyond 30 June 2023.
Cost of living is a focus but on this, the Government is walking a tightrope between easing pressure without increasing inflation.
In the election cycle, if there is going to be a tightening, the mid-term Budgets are the time to do it. The Government will undoubtedly look at concessions provided within the tax system and whether those concessions meet their stated objective and when it comes to spending, potentially redraw the allocations. Some of the areas to watch include:
The legislated stage three tax cuts, that collapse the 32.5% and 37% tax brackets to a single rate of 30% for those with assessable income between $45,000 and $200,000 are not due to commence until 1 July 2024. The Government committed to keeping the tax cuts during the election and can bypass the issue until the 2024-25 Budget, but we’ll see.
Provision for announced defence spending.
Active support to develop a viable clean energy industry and transition to clean energy (see the joint submission from the Business Council of Australia, Australian Council of Trade Unions, World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia and the Australian Conservation Foundation).
Productivity measures - Temporary full expensing - the productivity measure designed to encourage business investment that enables a business to fully expense the cost of depreciable assets in the first year of use – is set to expire on 30 June 2023. The Government will either extend, redevelop the small business instant asset write-off, or remove the concession altogether.
Technology and training boosts - In the 2022-23 Federal Budget, the former Government announced that it would provide certain business taxpayers with ‘bonus’ tax deductions for investing in employee training or improving digital operations. The Skills and Training Boost allows small businesses (aggregated turnover less than $50 million) to claim a 120% deduction for eligible expenditure incurred on external training for employees between 29 March 2022 and 30 June 2024. The Technology Investment Boost provides a 120% deduction for eligible expenses that are incurred for the purposes of improving digital operations or digitising business operations. This can include the cost of depreciating assets. The boost is aimed at costs incurred between 29 March 2022 and 30 June 2023 and is limited to a maximum bonus deduction of $20,000. But, the legislation enabling both boosts has not passed Parliament. There is an opportunity in the Budget to extend the scope and nature of the concession.
When it comes to tax, there are a series of reforms announced by the previous Government that were not enacted including the long overdue reform to simplify Division 7A (how company shareholder loans, payment and forgiven debts are managed). Clarity on these announced measures would be useful.
Update: Tax on super balances above $3m
In a very quick turnaround from announcement to draft legislation, Treasury has released the exposure draft legislation for consultation to enact the Government’s intention to impose a 30% tax on future superannuation fund earnings where the member’s total superannuation balance is above $3m.
The draft legislation confirms the Government’s intention to:
Impose the tax on member accounts with superannuation balances above $3 million from 1 July 2025 (not indexed); and
Apply the additional 15% tax to ‘unrealised gains’. This will mean that a tax liability will arise if the value of the assets goes up
Currently, all fund income is taxed at either 15%, or 10% for capital assets that have been held by the fund for more than 12 months. Unrealised gains, that is gains that are made because of changes in value, gains on paper, are not currently taxed – only when the gain is realised on sale or disposal of the asset.
If enacted, the legislation would mean that those impacted, could be paying tax on gains in value but without the cash from a sale to support the tax payment.
What sharing platforms are sharing with the ATO
From 1 July 2023, a new reporting regime will require platforms that enable taxi services including ride sourcing, and short-term accommodation to report their transactions to the ATO each year. From 1 July 2024, the regime will expand to include all other platforms.
While the legislative instrument for the reporting regime is still in draft (see LI 2022/D27), it is expected that platform providers will report their transactions to the ATO every six months.
What information on sellers will the ATO know?
The platforms will submit data on the sellers for transactions on their platform including:
ABN and business / trading name (where applicable)
First, middle and surname/family name (for individuals)
Date of birth (for individuals)
Residential or business address
Email address and telephone numbers
Bank account details.
And, for platforms facilitating short-term accommodation:
Listed property name
Listed property address
Number of nights booked.
In addition, the platforms will provide aggregate quarterly data on the value of transactions, industry types, total gross income etc.
The reporting regime does not include platforms that simply match suppliers to sellers and are not engaged in the transaction such as quotes for hiring tradies where the job is not accepted through the website.
Note: The material and contents provided in this publication are informative in nature only. It is not intended to be advice and you should not act specifically on the basis of this information alone. If expert assistance is required, professional advice should be obtained.