Things you should do before 30 June 2013

Well it's near that time of the year again - 30 June 2013 is the last day of the financial year. It's not as big as Christmas but there are still some sales on. Before you go stampeding to the stocktake sales though, here are some simple things you can do to help minimise your tax:

• If you run a business and there are some electronics, equipment or tools that you needed soon then buy it now. Any business asset purchases that cost less than $6,500 can be claimed in full on your upcoming tax return. If you don't run a business then only work related items that cost less than $300 can be claimed in full. Please be sensible about this and don't buy unnecessary items just for the tax deduction!
  
  
• Similarly, you can stock up on consumables such as stationary, business cards, coffee beans, petrol, etc. Or prepay your business insurance or income protection insurance. For some of you who have margin loans, you could ask if you can prepay next year's interest now. Also if you were holding back on some repairs such as for your rental property then you might as well get it done now. Basically pay for things this week that you know for sure that you will need to pay for soon anyway.
  
  
• For those contractors out there or if your business sends out invoices, see if you can hold off and send your invoices on 1 July so that they fall in the next financial year.
  
  
• If you are not an employee, for example you run a business or most of your income is from rent, dividends and interest, then you can contribute some money into your super fund for a tax deduction. There are limits we need to watch out for so please contact me if you would like to consider this.
  
  
• If you would like free money from the government and don't mind that it will be stuck in your super fund until you retire, then you may consider the government's superannuation co-contribution scheme. It has been watered down a lot since it started but if you earn less than around $46,700 a year and contribute an extra $1,000 into your super then the government will give you up to $500 as well.
  
  
• This one is very specific but still worth mentioning: If you have made capital gains this year AND you have other assets that have decreased in value such as shares that have tanked AND you were going to sell these shares anyway AND you do not intend to purchase these shares again soon, then sell those shares at a loss so that you can offset it against the capital gain you made earlier in the year.

I remember seeing this Foxtel advertisement and their marketing team tried making the acronym a thing so I figured I would try to help them out a little. Have a good week everyone and...

Federal budget changes that may affect your business

Part of the reason why our government had to raise taxes and cut back on spending is because they overestimated the revenue they would receive from business taxes.

For example, the mining tax which started on 1 July 2012 will now only raise $3.3 billion in the first four years rather than the expected $13.4 billion.

Another example is government revenue from a carbon price (called a price but is really a tax) had to be reduced because they now predict a carbon price of $12 a tonne compared to the original forecast of $29 a tonne when Australia links its emissions trading scheme with the European Union (EU). Currently the price of an EU carbon permit is around $5 a tonne so this revenue may be reduced again in future.

Well then it is not surprising that the government's proposal to reduce the company tax rate from 30% down to possibly 28% is no longer happening.

However the company loss carry-back is still in effect for the current financial year. If you run your business through a company and it makes a loss in the 2013 financial year, you can use it to offset the tax paid for the 2012 financial year. Going forward your company can carry back up to $1 million of tax losses each year which helps smooth out the tax bills when you have one really good year followed by a really bad year. Also note that this only applies to companies so trusts and sole traders cannot carry back losses.

Now for the few of you who import, the government is increasing the Import Processing Charge (IPC) from 1 January 2014.

• For consignments valued over $10,000, the IPC for electronic sea import declarations will be increased by $102.60 to $152.60 per consignment and the IPC for electronic air import declarations will be increased by $81.90 to $122.10 per consignment. 
• For consignments valued over $1,000 and up to $10,000 the IPC will remain the same.
• The  IPC  is  still not  applied  to  consignments valued at $1,000 or less. This is also good news for everyone who buys things online from overseas as no GST is charged on total packages less than $1,000 either. Well you tell me where I can buy a Game of Thrones cup locally in Adelaide...