Finance News August 2022

The ATO has advised that the majority of taxpayers can now lodge their tax return as more than 80 million pieces of information are available in pre-fill. However, the ATO also said that while having this data ready to go cuts down time, taxpayers will still need to check that their details are accurate and ensure any other information that hasn’t been pre-filled, is manually added. For example, income from rentals, side hustles and the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment from Services Australia, will need to be manually added.

The ATO has warned that dodgy contractors trying to keep income “off-the-books” and businesses helping them do so are being “put on notice”. In particular, the ATO warns that by the taxable payment reporting system (TPRS) allows the ATO to investigate this type of conduct  and that around $350bn in payments made to 950,000 contractors were reported to the ATO in the last financial year. The ATO reminded taxpayers that TPRS obligations apply to businesses in the building and construction industry, as well as businesses that provide cleaning, courier, road freight, information technology and security, investigation, or surveillance services and have paid sub-contractors in relation to these services. The ATO also reminded these businesses that they will have to lodge a TPAR with the ATO by 28 August.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Electric Car Discount) Bill 2022 was introduced into Parliament on 27 July 2022. It amends the FBTAA 1986 to exempt from FBT cars that are zero or low emissions vehicles held by the provider and used by or made available for private use of employees. Additionally, to be eligible for the exemption the value of the car at the first retail sale must be below the luxury car tax threshold for fuel efficient cars. It applies to fringe benefits provided on or after 1 July 2022 for cars that are eligible zero or low emissions vehicles that are first held and used on or after 1 July 2022. Note: The operation of the amendment will be reviewed after three years in light of electric car take up.

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