Managing Tax Obligations 101

If you're a business owner, then managing your tax situation is key to streamlining relations with stakeholders and reducing the instance of tax surprises.

Having a good relationship with the taxman certainly helps with making your business efforts easier. Here we cover some of the main tax due dates and our schedule for managing these for you (where we are engaged).

When are my tax returns due & when should they be prepared?

Like most professional firms we need to schedule work to help ensure that the right projects get attended to adequately.

Given that every package is slightly personalised for your situation - check whether your engagement covers these.

Annual Tax Returns

To help we've created a matrix based on company requirements.

Allow up to 4 weeks turnaround in line with the timeframes above (up to 6 weeks in peak tax season Aug and May) providing we have all the information at hand.

Sometimes you require a tax return sooner (i.e. documentation for a capital raise or bank loan). If so we can bring forward your tax return processing with our priority processing service - allow an additional fee which we will quote for you beforehand.

Business Activity Statements

These can be due at different frequencies based on your turnover or amount of Australian payroll. Note your GST or PAYG Withholding registration will also determine the below. 

We will seek to send through queries or the completed returns for signing prior to the due date.

Single Touch Payroll (STP)

STP works by sending tax and super information from your STP-enabled payroll or accounting software to the ATO as you run your payroll.

Superannuation

Employee superannuation payments should be at the top of your priority list. Super contributions are usually due 28 days after the end of each quarter (Sept, Dec, Mar, Jun).

Since this only happens four times a year, it can take some business owners by surprise. We highly recommend paying super with each pay run. This will ensure that you are not burning the cash that is supposed to go towards paying this obligation. 

Superannuation is one of the items the ATO can collect from the directors of the company personally (called a Director Penalty Notice, or DPN) so it's best to ensure you pay this before anything else.

Penalties for late payment of super are also significant and cannot be reduced, argued or remitted. Late superannuation and the penalties relating to it are not tax-deductible, which means you also cannot claim it for the R&D Tax Incentive.

ESOP Annual Reporting

Also known as ESS annual reports, these are generally required before 14 August each year and only you have issued ESOPs in the last financial year.

FBT Reporting

If you've been paying out non-cash benefits to staff (like a gym membership, rental accommodation, a company car), then you might have an FBT return due if no reimbursements were received - allow for mid-June for lodgement. If this is not included in your engagement, this should be organised beforehand if you would like us to prepare this on a project basis.

Payroll Tax

This differs from state to state, but generally if your AUS payroll exceeds $1m then you'll need to consider regular lodgements.
Some states require monthly lodgements, whereas others only require lodgements twice a year.
Check in with us to see what might apply to your situation.

Payroll Tax Reporting

This differs from state to state, but generally if your AUS payroll exceeds $1m then you'll need to consider regular lodgements.
Some states require monthly lodgements, whereas others only require lodgements twice a year.
Check-in with us to see what might apply to your situation.

ESIC Investor Reporting

If you've had investors through the year qualifying for ESIC tax incentives (i.e. 20% tax offset on qualifying investment, reduced CGT for 10 years!) then you'll need to report by end of July for investments made the year prior - generally.

 

-------------------

There's a quite a few points of reporting required by the ATO throughout the year. Thankfully by working with Fullstack we'll help keep you up to speed with the requirements.

We seek to keep you aware of impending due dates via our main newsletter alongside client-wide announcements and tax planning meetings where part of your engagement. Also ensure your email setup is geared to receive fullstack emails well to help receive important updates loud and clear.

If you are after a more detailed review of your situation, please book a tax consultation here.