With COVID-19 hitting the back pocket hard, people are looking for any opportunity to improve their cash flow. One commonly under-utilised option is available to many rental property owners who receive wages and that is to complete and lodge with the ATO a PAYG withholding variation form.
With the end of financial year, many people are looking to get their personal tax returns done as early as possible this year to receive their hopeful tax refund. We are getting a lot of questions from clients regarding changes to their payment summaries. There is a new way most employers now report your wages to the ATO and this has changed how your employer provides the annual payment summaries to you.
With the JobKeeper entitlement due to end in September, many businesses have also been deferring paying their tax debt until this time as the ATO were happy to allow COVID-19 impacted businesses this relief. However this tax debt has continued to accrue and grow over this time as a result of further lodgements and interest being charged and the ATO has indicated it is going to start contacting business in late August to begin making calls to follow up on the status of these businesses.
With residents in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell shire being placed in lock down once again as a result of COVID-19, the Victorian Government has been quick to announce a raft of new relief measures to support small businesses impacted by this shut down.
With the new financial year ticking over, the ATO has been flooded with requests from taxpayers seeking to withdraw $10,000 from their super fund due to financial hardship from COVID-19. This application is made through an individual’s myGov account and the number of enquiries through this system led to all of the ATO’s online portals being impacted by connection issues on 1 July.
With the start of a new financial year, now is the time to prepare and collect your information together to prepare for your tax returns. This article will provide a summary of items to individual taxpayers to consider in putting this information together, including several items that are unique this year due to COVID-19.