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Showing posts from September, 2019

Learn the ‘basics’ and be your own SUPER hero

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Superannuation, better known as the small amount of funds that are put into an account to support financial needs for retirement, can be confusing for many, but for the every day person, they often don’t even know what a super fund is! The super fund, the advertisement that is sold to you in many forms, radio, Tv, mail, should be one of the most simple things to understand, yet it isn’t. There are many super funds to choose from, regardless, the super fundis a separate and most of the time, un accessible account that has regular contributions made to it by both the employer and sometimes individual, to set them up for retirement age. The SG (Superannuation Guarantee is at a rate of 9.5%. This is the minimum amount that employers are obliged to contribute to their employees complying super fund, or a retirement saving account. Who doesn’t love being paid on time though? The due dates for the Superannuation Guarantee payments are as follows: Quarter Period Payment Due Date 1

Australian Scholarship Group It is every parents dream, no matter big or small, to be able to give their child the best chance at life, and the best education. But kids are EXPENSIVE! They eat food like it’s going out of fashion, they include themselves in every extra curricular activity possible (as if their fear of missing out is too much for them), they grow and they grow fast. As a parent, you’re always buying them the latest toy, the latest gadget, the latest fashion item, but who pays their school fees? You. So what happens if you want to give your child not only the latest gadgets, but the best and most rewarding education as you can, which teaches them to grow and be the newest and most pivotal member of the community? You do it, no matter what. However, sometimes this just isn’t realistic, not everyone has the money they need for this. BUT, what if someone told you there was a way? That it is possible to send your child to that school you’ve always dreamed of sending them to…?That it is possible to give your little human the best gadget, toy, clothing AND the best education as you can…? Supporting YOUR Children’s Education The Australian Scholarship Group aims to support our upcoming generations future education by planning ahead, rather than panicking when the time comes. ASG sets up funds for families where by contributions are regularly made directly into the funds by the fund manager. The fund manager works in a way that enables the fund a sustainable and healthy growth economically. But before choosing ASG, let’s have a closer look at the fine print. Do ASG’s education funds qualify as scholarships plans under Australian Taxation Law. Yes! Does this mean they can achieve favorable tax treatment for educational purposes? Yes! Can you claim a scholarship plan on tax? Yes! Any course expenses charged by the following can be claimed: – University (Australia or Overseas) – TAFE College-Registered Training Organisations- Professional Bodies-Secondary School – Primary School – Pre School Along with all of these, could you still claim higher education courses receiving HECS or HELP support from the Australian Government? Yes! Lastly, is there anything else that can be claimed? Of Course! Text books, computers, travel expenses excursions, living away from home and all necessities (calculators, stationery etc) Once you’ve accessed all of your claims and benefits, fund members also enjoy ongoing support from a range of tools that have been specifically designed to aid the child’s academic, social and emotional development. Even if you don’t need it, parenting information and advice, career planning tools and family planning advice is accessible. Through ASG, you will gain access to the ‘cost of education calculator’. The calculator aids with costing of education nationally, or more specifically personalized to the state you are living in. The calculator processes all stages of education, beginning from primary, moving all the way through to secondary and university. By selecting the number of children to be calculated, the calculator will then provide a savings guide tailored to that individuals needs. So now what? It’s time to choose your super fund! Some things to consider before choosing are: What kind of education are you saving for? How disciplined are you with saving? What is your current overall financial situation? Once you know the answer, you can choose to open one of the following funds: Pathway Education Fund Life Long Education Fund Tertiary Saver Fund Private Saver Fund Extra Saver Fund We all plan to save for retirement, accidents, houses, holidays. Education shouldn’t be excluded. With the key features of a $0 application fee, interest free funds, your freedom of choice in choosing your payment and controlling your own savings, there really is no way ASG could go wrong. ASG is a fantastic way to set up a prosperous and strong educational future for your children.

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Australian Scholarship Group It is every parents dream , no matter big or small, to be able to give their child the best chance at life, and the best education. But kids are EXPENSIVE! They eat food like it’s going out of fashion, they include themselves in every extra curricular activity possible (as if their fear of missing out is too much for them), they grow and they grow fast. As a parent, you’re always buying them the latest toy, the latest gadget, the latest fashion item, but who pays their school fees? You. So what happens if you want to give your child not only the latest gadgets, but the best and most rewarding education as you can, which teaches them to grow and be the newest and most pivotal member of the community? You do it, no matter what. However, sometimes this just isn’t realistic, not everyone has the money they need for this. BUT, what if someone told you there was a way? That it is possible to send your child to that school you’ve always dreamed of sendi

Income tax sucks and doesn’t work anymore.

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There is a 21st century problem that cannot be solved by a 19thand 20thcentury process. Income tax for companies and individuals have served us well, but no longer represent a fair way for businesses and individuals working in Australia to pay tax. Well it works fine for multinationals. Here is an example: Netflix –know them, well we are being ripped off by this multinational and nothing is getting done about it. From the Australian Financial Review Netflix is making hundreds of millions of dollars from Australian Consumers but the revenue is booked by a Netherlands Basedcompany, this raises questions about how multinational corporations classify revenue locally and highlights the tax challenges of the global digital economy. Netflix customers and not billed by a local entity but are instead paying Netflix International BV, a subsidiary of the US-Listed Netflix Inc, based in Amsterdam. It’s quite common for a parent company multinational to lend the Australian subsidiary “on

Paper and Pen are back again.

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Marketing – spend money on the Google “work bidding war”. Complete a number of dollar boosts with Facebook. Get buried in Instagram and Twitter. All of these seem to me to be dark arts. There isn’t a day that goes by where a young person who has finished their social media course wants to be “my friend” on LinkedIn and they can take care of all my needs, increase “my reach” and probably cure some disease at the same time. I spent a lot of money with these experts going nowhere. There is just so many messages on social media (though I have kept my Facebook to a minimum as I put Ulan Bator as my place of birth). Aren’t we all tired of being stalked when an ad follows us around? This doesn’t mean that we don’t have a decent website. This doesn’t mean we don’t have Facebook. Lots of our business inquiries come through our website, and we leave the website to be a form of information for a prospect to get to know a bit about us. That works, and works better since we moved away

"Howls of protest sometimes only work once."

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It’s back! It’s back on the table. The Federal Government is introducing a rule designed to encourage the repayment of tax debt. Introduced in parliament by Minister for Housing and Assistant Treasurer, Michael Sukkar, the debt that a business has with the ATO could be disclosed to credit reporting agencies. When this was first suggested before the election there where howls of protest, but this time around, and after a convincing election, assume it will go through. This is for debt of over $100k and due in90 days, and quite frankly when this is your debt you do have a few problems, especially if you are planning to pay the debt from the profit of the business. Staying compliant with BAS etc. by lodging and paying on time will be a challenge. The new rules allow that when a business is effectively engaged with the tax office, and where taking action in accordance with the law, it would not form part of the threshold in these proposed new rules. We’ve seen instances in the

Finance and the colour of your underpants

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In a post Royal Commission world, lenders are now asking about all your costs and are crossing into areas of health as well as anything you may spend your money on. The Australian Financial Review reported on Monday 12th August, that the broker Tom Caesar was asked why a client was spending money($120)at radiology. Clearly lenders are “struggling” to come to grips with what is responsible lending in a post Royal Commission world. The radiology cost was because the potential borrower, a mother, had had her son’s broken arm x-rayed. What if the lender was asking about something that was truly personal in relation to health or anything else? What is also happening is that we are all reading the writing on the wall, (well not on the wall but we have a keen sense that something is not right in our economy) where house prices are falling and retail spending is going down and lenders are now thinking that they need to be more secure in a changing economy. So it’s time to get a fe

The Australian Tax Office and the Art of Cooking Fish

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Or may be the title should read “The ATO is chasing and cooking the bigger fish and will get to the smaller ones from time to time, or eventually.” We know the term “bigger fish to fry”. In the case of the resource poor ATO, it’s about focusing on major tax fraud, and making sure that those overseas companies that don’t want to make any contribution are chased. Large corporations can employ lawyers and barristers by the truck load and can afford to stand outside court and tear up bundles of money –because more likely, they aren’t paying much tax. So the good folk at the ATO have a lot on their plate –which could be the reason why they are slow at chasing smaller businesses that are a sole trader with an ABN to even small businesses that employ people.  So you could, if you are a few years behind in your lodgements of BAS and returns and haven’t been chased lately, think “they are not coming for me” but…and here is the big BUT, they will get there even if in the end they chase