FAQ

Yes. All IPS accountants complete the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Chartered Accountant program, a globally recognised graduate program. We also have a team of dedicated SMSF Specialist Advisors who are registered with SPAA (Self-Managed Super Fund Professionals´ Association of Australia) and fully qualified financial planners as well as Registered Company Auditors.

You need to file a tax return if in the last year:

  • you are an employee or contractor
  • you were an Australian resident for the full income year
  • you were 18 or older on the last day – 30 June – of the last income year
  • your taxable income exceeded the tax free threshold in the 2006-07 income year

 

  • Lodge online using E-tax.
  • Lodge by phone.
  • Do it yourself by using Tax Pack and lodge by mail.
  • Use a registered tax agent.

 

You should keep records in these main categories:

  • any payments you have received
  • any expenses related to payments received
  • when you have acquired or disposed of an asset ¯ such as shares or a rental property
  • any tax deductible gifts or donations, and
  • any medical expenses.

Generally, you must keep your written evidence for five years from the date the notice of assessment is sent to you, or:

  • if you have claimed a deduction for decline in value (formerly known as depreciation), five years from the date of your last claim for decline in value
  • if you acquire or dispose of an asset, five years after it is certain that no capital gains tax (CGT) event can happen for which those records will be needed to work out a capital gain or loss, and
  • if you are in dispute with the Tax Office, the later of five years from the date you lodge your return or when the dispute is finalised.

You are in an exepmtion category if: You were a blind pensioner or you received the sickness allowance from Centrelink. You were entitled to full free medical treatment for all conditions under defence force arrangements or Veterans’ Affairs Repatriation health card (gold card) or repatriation arrangements. You were not an Australian resident for tax purposes You were a resident of Norfolk Island. You were a member of a diplomatic mission or consular post in Australia – or a member of such a person’s family and you were living with them – and you were not an Australian citizen and you do not ordinarily live in Australia. You have a certificate from the Medicare Levy Exemption Certification Unit of Medicare Australia (previously Health Insurance Commission) showing that you are not entitled to Medicare benefits. If you were not in one of these exemption categories, you are not entitled to an exemption.

Car Expenses Travel Expenses Other work-related expenses Other expenses Rental Expenses Car Expenses The records you need to keep will depend on your estimated business kilometres travelled. However, your claim at the end of the financial year will depend on your actual business kilometres. Therefore, if you cannot estimate your business kilometres, you should keep documentation as required by the logbook method. This will ensure that you will be able to make your claim under the method which gives you the greater deduction. If your estimated travel will be more than 5,000kms, you can use one of four methods: cents per kilometre method (restricted to claiming only 5,000kms) logbook method 12‰ of original value method, or 1/3 of actual expenses moethod. Cents per kilometre method You need records showing how you calculate business kilometres travelled and the amount of the claim. For example, diary entries and documents you can use to show the engine capacity of your car. Logbook method For each year you need: odometer readings for the start and end of the period being claimed business usage percentage based on the log book receipts or other documents showing fuel and oil expenses, or a reasonable estimate based on odometer readings, and receipts or other documents showing other expenses related to your car. For example, registration, insurance, lease payments, services, tyres, repairs, interest charges. Your logbook is valid for five years. If this is the first year you are using this method (or the five years has expired) you will need to keep a log book for this year. The logbook must cover at least 12 continuous weeks and show: when the logbook period begins and ends the car’s odometer readings at the start and end of the logbook period the total kilometres travelled in the log book period the kilometres travelled for work activities based on journeys recorded in the logbook. In recording the journeys, you need the start and finishing times of the journey, the odometer readings at the start and end of the journey, kilometres travelled and the reason for the journey, and the business use percentage for the log book period. Other work-related expenses Clothing, uniform, dry cleaning, laundry and sun protection These records may include: receipts or other documents showing expenses for uniforms and occupation-specific and protective clothing a basis for your claim for laundry costs if claiming less than $150 diary entries, receipts or other documents evidencing claims greater than $150 receipts or other documents showing dry cleaning costs, and receipts or other documents showing expenses for sun protection items. For more information on expenses you can claim on you ITR please visit the ATO website on our links page.

Yes, simply a will helps ensure your family’s needs are met according to your wishes. Apart from distributing your wealth and assets a will allows you to; provide for children from a previous relationship, exclude immediate family members if you so wish, provide for children with special needs, decide the guardianship of your children, allocate assets that do not form part of your estate such as family trusts etc. The most important things to decide when leaving your will are; who to appoint as executor, who will receive your assets and how and when your assets with be distributed. If you do not have a valid will at the time of your death the state will appoint an executor. This person will take into account your family situation and distribute your wealth and assets. This can be a very long and slow process and there is no guarantee that your estate will be divided how you had wished. Your will should be reviewed as circumstances change, things such as marriage or divorce, birth or death of family members, significant changes to the value of your assets, residency changes, if you enter or exit a business or if your retire.

Payment should be made as soon as the Business Activity Statement has been lodged. This way there will be no interest charged and no fines or penalties applied.

An audit, in accordance with AUSs, provides assurance to the presented financial statements. It allows the reader to feel confident that the financial statements are free from errors or omissions or material misstatement. The objective of an audit is to enable the auditor to express an opinion whether the financial report is prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with an identified financial reporting framework. The auditor should adopt an attitude of professional skepticism throughout the audit and will need to obtain evidence regarding management representations and not assume they are necessarily correct. There are inherent limitations on any audit as to the extent to which risk can reasonably be expected to be reduced.

If you are a foreign owned company, publicly listed company, large company or non-profit organisation you require audit services. Other reasons why an audit of the financial services is required include trust account audits, travel compensation fund audits and franchise code of conduct audits. The Corporations Act 2001 requires the following entities to prepare and lodge audited financial reports:

  • Public companies;
  • Disclosing entities;
  • Large proprietary companies;
  • Managed investment schemes;
  • Small proprietary companies (foreign controlled);
  • Small proprietary companies (ASIC direction to lodge financial reports)c

Due Diligence is the intense examination of a target business for a merger or acquisition by a prospective buyer and it can be described as fact-finding to assist in determining whether to buy the business at all, how much to pay for the business and how to structure the acquisition. The principal purpose of Due Diligence is to verify assertions made by the Seller and to identify caveats that may not have been disclosed to the Buyer. It is a reasonable investigation about the state of affairs of the business to be acquired, focusing on matters which may have an effect on the future of the business. More specifically, a due diligence audit is performed to help a buyer understand details of the development process, degree of regulatory compliance, etc. of a target company. The level of assurance required from due diligence will determine what level of audit needs to be conducted.

GET IN TOUCH