ASIC has advised that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, advisers will not need to provide an SOA when providing advice around early access to super. Even tax agents can give advice to existing clients about early access to super without needing to hold an Australian financial services licence. These measures only apply if fees are capped at $300 ...
The Government’s Code is seriously deficient as it seeks to deal with a three point problem by addressing only two of them. The government acknowledges that the question of rental relief needs to be addressed via consultation between the tenant, landlord and the landlord’s banker but the Code only materially addresses the first two. This places...
The ATO has provided a simple solution to determining the deductibility issues surrounding home expenses. To claim a deduction for working from home, all of the following must apply: you must have spent the money the expense must be directly related to earning your income you must have a record to prove it the expense has not...
The ATO have released CRT Alert 004/2020 which contains the manner in which early superannuation release is to be implemented. Applications will be available from Monday 20 April from either the myGov site or phone. The member will need to provide; a list of open superannuation accounts they have and the last account balance reported for that...
Here are some further clarifications of the Covid-19 early superannuation release measures; They received Royal Assent on 24 March but are not active until 20 April. Member’s wishing to withdraw under these provisions must make application to the ATO via the MyGov site. Expressions of interest can be made now but they will not be processed...
As financial conditions worsen, many landlords have been considering/offering their tenants a degree of rental relief to assist with both the survival of the tenant and the avoidance of a vacancy. SMSF trustees may provide this accommodation in the same way as any other landlord. An additional consideration comes into play when the tenant is a...
The Government is making two changes to superannuation in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. The pension minimum percentages for this year and next will be halved. This will allow a lesser payment to be taken but, where there will now be unexpected withdrawals in excess of the new pension minimum, a reassessment of the nature of any...
In Part 3 we investigated the maths behind excess concessional contributions tax. Bill’s example showed that, after undergoing this somewhat convoluted exercise culminating in a release of 85% of the excess contributions, he hasn’t achieved any advantage so why is this action being considered by some as a deliberate SMSF strategy? If the 15% contribution tax could...