Poole Group

Medical practices are usually very stable businesses, operating from the same location for many years. Overtime, while the doctors operating from the location may change, the public associate the physical location with a medical practice and site goodwill grows. With this in mind, a strategic opportunity may arise to own the physical location and capture this site goodwill for the future.

Many of you have probably thought from time to time what it would take to purchase a commercial medical suite, perhaps with a collea

Sunshine Coast Council has recently voted to allow discount chain store Target to open its second major store on the Sunshine Coast at Kawana Home Central.

Councillors voted in favour of an amendment which will allow the development to go ahead after Cr Peter Cox successfully argued for a motion which will allow Target to temporarily open the 2000sq m store on the condition it would move to the Kawana Town Centre in five years.

One in three Australian's admit to living pay cheque to pay cheque, while one in five say they would be unable to cope with an emergency expense of less than $1,000, according to new research from BT (November 2012).

A survey into the financial health of nearly 5,000 Australians found that 30% of respondents said they rarely had money left over after each pay cheque. In addition, less than half said they were able to meet their monthly expenses.

It has been announced by the Federal Government that from the 31st May 2013, all unclaimed superannuation accounts with a balance less than $2000.00 will be transferred to the Australian Taxation Office. Lost super is said to be worth $675 million dollars and as many as 3 million Australian are completely unaware they fall into this category, some even with multiple accounts. How is super lost? The government considers super to be lost if the member has not received a contribution or rollover for within a period of 12 months and if the member is uncontactable via written communication.

Here at Poole Group we understand that the time you spend on your bookkeeping and expenses could be better spent building your business.

Therefore, we're pleased to announce our adoption of Receipt Bank, the Xero add-on which removes the burden of data entry and gets rid of your boxes of paper.

The new ATO Guidance trustees need to be aware of

by David Darrant & Stacy Barnes

A lot of our clients have a Self Managed Superannuation Fund that is in pension mode. Being in pension mode means the Superannuation fund, as well as its members, receive a very generous tax concession so long as a minimum pension is drawn annually from the fund. The tax exemption gained within pension phase is the highest in the world, 0% tax on income. This valuable tax concessions can be lost if the trustees make an error in meeting the minimum pension payment, as a result possibly costing the fund many thousands of dollars in tax and compliance costs.

I was recently referred to a client who had existing policies set up through another adviser within his Self Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF). The other adviser had recommended that the client own all of his policies through the SMSF including a Business Expense Policy (BEX). Apart from other issues relating to the Total & Permanent Disability (TPD) and Income Protection held through the SMSF, the greatest concern was the BEX policy.

Kingfisher Court is being undertaken by a syndicate of investors which is being led by Greg Tuckwell. It is being designed by local architects Blackburne Jackson and will be built by Murphy Builders.

The project is just five minutes drive to the multi-billion dollar 450 bed Sunshine Coast University Hospital as well as the associated 200 bed private hospital and health hub. This precinct will create thousands of employment opportunities during both the construction and operational stages of the project.

New Rules to make company directors personally liable for company debts

As part of the 2011 Budget the Government announced changes to strengthen the law, preventing companies from deliberately liquidating to avoid paying liabilities – including employee entitlements.

Insurance contracts are ever changing and in most situations are becoming more flexible at the time of claim. However, does this added flexibility come at a cost to the client? This article looks at the changing definition of heart attack within Trauma policies.

Trauma insurance first started in South Africa around 1983, with it first appearing in the Australian insurance market in the late 1980's. Initially Trauma policies only covered a small number of insured health events. The main four being heart attack, cancer, stroke and heart surgery, together with several others such as paralysis, major head trauma and multiple sclerosis. Over the years however, many more insured events have been added, with a typical Trauma policy today providing over 40 different insured health events. The definitions of existing insured events have been altered and partial or early stage payments have been introduced. Thus today's policies would be considered materially different to those of 25 years ago.

In 1987, I finished my degree and took off with a backpack to Europe. Five years of working and studying part-time meant I was always time poor. I, like all students, was constantly working to a timetable, planning for this exam, then working on that assignment, while at all times attempting to keep on top of the work issues. So I needed a change...

No complex planning was involved with this mindset, an airline ticket, a drinking buddy, some bucks in my pocket and a sense of adventure was all that I needed. On reflection, I think the impulsiveness of the trip actually increased the appeal.

With Christmas here in a few weeks time, many of you are getting busy planning Christmas parties. Unfortunately the ATO rules may spoil your party with potential FBT or non deductible expenses so below is some information to help you understand.

The cost of Christmas parties and gifts is only deductible to the extent that it is subject to FBT so if the cost is subject to FBT it will be deductible, and if it is exempt from FBT then it is not tax deductible.

The most common error we have seen this year is the incorrect completion of PAYG Withholding Summaries and specifically the Reportable Employer Super Contributions (RESC) section. RESC are those contributions the employer makes on behalf of an employee, such as salary sacrifice contributions or additional super contributions (above 9% Super guarantee). When an employer is making a concessional contribution (via salary sacrifice) to super for an employee it needs to be reported on the employees PAYG Summary, excluding their 9% Super Guarantee amount.

Correcting GST mistakes

When completing your activity statement you may discover you have made a mistake or left something out on a previous activity statement. The normal way to correct these mistakes is to revise the previous activity statement however it can be corrected on your next activity statement. It is simple to correct an activity statement. If you have reported the incorrect amount in G1 or G11 you can simply increase or decrease the amount by which it was out. This will then correct your 1A or 1B figure to give you the right amount payable or refundable.

It is with great sadness that I wish to advise that Keith, aged 85, passed away at 6.20am on Saturday 15th September 2012 after several months of ill health.

His passing was without pain and my brother Allan, my wife Robyn and I were fortunate to be present at the time.

We have had wonderful support from all the family members and friends who were able to say their goodbyes to Keith over the past week.

My mother, Lorraine and all our family will miss him dearly and hold his memory for all our days.

Keith will be farewelled at the Lifepointe Baptist Church, 186 Wises Road, Buderim at 11am on Thursday 20th September 2012.

All are welcome to attend his celebration of life.

Don Poole on behalf of the Poole Family 

By Kirk Jarrott

The main contributors to the ASX 200 index over the quarter were the banks and large cap defensives. However, if we are to take the consensus target prices of analysts as gospel, there now lies little upside within this small sample of defensive stocks. We are now riding a wave into the most negative months of the year being September and October so as these stocks have rallied hard and broader macro economic issues are still evident, it is time to take some profit.

Article written by Michael Matusik

Rules are made to be broken – just ask any teenager.

But while I'm not always a 'rules' kind of guy either, experience has taught me a thing or two about following the right ones.

If you dropped into the Sydney Home Buyer & Property Investor Show last month – here's a scene, you'll already know that I have 10 rules for successful investment buying.

As part of the 2011/12 Federal Budget, the Government announced the introduction of taxable payment reporting for businesses in the building and construction industry. This means that you will need to report to the ATO the total payments you make to each contractor for building and construction services each year, starting from 1 July 2012.

As a Xero Gold Partner, we now service over 100 clients on Xero. To help keep everyone up to date with the latest tips, tricks and Xero functionality we have implemented a few initiatives that we hope our clients will take advantage of

by Alicia Gutierrez

It's midday on Monday, lunchtime at Birtinya based accounting firm Poole Group. The lunchroom is empty however, abandoned by the firm's employees in favour of Lake Kawana and the three outrigger canoes waiting by the water's edge. It is the first of a few team trainings the group will swap their lunch hour for in preparation for the upcoming Corporate Outrigger Challenge in the annual Wishist Row for Cancer.