Do you need to lodge your individual tax return by 31 October?
If you haven't previously had a registered tax agent prepare your personal income tax return (and you don't have any prior year's tax returns outstanding) you have until 31 October 2018 to appoint a tax agent to attend to your 2018 return. If you don’t appoint a tax agent and fail to lodge your tax return by this date, you may be subject to a $210 penalty for each period of 28 days (or part thereof) that the return remains overdue.
One benefit of appointing a tax agent is that, if eligible, you would be able to access the tax agent's lodgement extension program (i.e. have extra time to lodge your return - especially useful if you have tax to pay for 2018!).
Please speak to your Nexia representative if you need help in lodging your tax return.
Proposed superannuation guarantee amnesty
There is currently a Bill before the Senate that, when enacted, will provide a once-off 12-month amnesty (i.e. from 24 May 2018 to 23 May 2019) for businesses that failed to make superannuation guarantee payments for workers from 1 July 1992 up to 31 March 2018.
Catch-up payments of missing superannuation guarantee charges disclosed in this amnesty period will not incur penalties and will be tax deductible. However, if employers don’t make any catch-up payments of missing superannuation guarantee charges before 24 May 2019, higher penalties (e.g. minimum 50% on top of superannuation guarantee charge amounts and penalties up to 200% if no superannuation guarantee statements) will be imposed once such employers are eventually caught.
We will keep you updated on any new developments with this superannuation guarantee amnesty measure.
Are your insurance premiums deductible?
Insurance premiums paid by individuals that will trigger payouts to compensate for the loss of earning assessable income (e.g. income protection, sickness or accident insurance cover premiums) will be tax deductible (i.e. insurance against loss of income).
In contrast, insurance premiums (e.g. life insurance, trauma or critical care insurance premiums) paid for policies that compensate a policyholder for physical injury or impairment of earnings capacity will not be tax deductible (i.e. insurance against loss of capital).
When dealing with combined insurance policies that provide for benefits of both an income and capital nature (e.g. income protection cover with combined death and disability cover), only the portion of the premium that relates to the income component will be deductible.
Please speak to your Nexia advisor if you have any questions about the adequacy of your insurance as well as the tax treatment thereof. We would like to work in partnership with you to ensure your needs are met with the appropriate amount and type of risk insurance cover.