Author Shannon Cook
OUR OFFICE IS CLOSED – 6th December 2019
Our Poole Group office will be closed the 6th December 2019, to allow all our staff to participate in our Christmas Activities. We will have an answering service which will be able to take messages which we will respond to when we return to our usual working hours on the 9th December 2019.
Christmas brings together families and important decisions As we approach the end of another year many people will be looking forward to the festive season and the chance to slow down and catch up with family, particularly elderly parents. Busy lives and distant homes can make it easy to feel out of touch.
If you’ve paid a tradie, cleaner or courier contractor to help in the last year, you might need to lodge a Taxable Payments Annual Report (TPAR). You may need to lodge a TPAR if your business: is primarily in the building and construction industry and paid contractors to provide building and construction services – including
If you haven’t already, it is time to move to Single Touch Payroll now! Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting is here, and you need make the move by 30 September 2019. STP changes the way you report your employees’ tax and super information to us.
Are you going to meet the QBCC deadline? Your financial Information needs to be lodged with the QBCC by 31st December 2019. Before you get caught up in the silly season, contact us on 07 5437 9900 as we can assist you with preparing the necessary documentation.
Single Touch Payroll – Could it be the biggest adjustment to Australian Businesses since Good & Services Tax (GST)? The Australian Taxation Office recently introduced Single Touch Payroll (STP), this is a new legal requirement to report salaries and wages, PAYG withholding and superannuation via STP-enabled software to the ATO each time you are paid
If you once ran a thriving taxi company that started to fade when Uber burst on the scene or a hotel that suffered from the impact of Airbnb, you know what the word “disruption” means. You probably don’t do either of those things but could the business you do run be equally at risk from
As a business owner, there are plenty of things you need to manage, and two of the most important of these are assets and risks. In other words, building your wealth and protecting your wealth.
The pen may be mightier than the sword – but can it beat the smartphone? When it comes to keeping track of vehicle mileage, we think not. When do you need to use a logbook?
Single Touch Payroll – The Australian Taxation Office has extended the STP obligations to all employers. Parliament has approved legislation to extend Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting to include all small employers (fewer than 20 employees) from 1 July 2019. Don’t know what STP is?
Busy work. That work you have to get done, but somehow seems to take over your entire day and before you know it, you’ve reached the end of the week and still haven’t managed to make a dent on the most important task on your to do list. Sure, this can be about priorities, but
The Chance of Developing Stroke Sometime During One’s Lifespan Is 25% It’s a worldwide health threat. The probability of a person developing a stroke at some point during their remaining lifespan is seen at one in four globally on average, according to 2016 data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The lifetime stroke risk
Starting a business is part science, part art, and a large part hard work! It can get lost in all the excitement but you need to get the balance right. Approximately 20 percent of all small businesses fail in their first year; and your chances of your business making it to five years are around
While everyone wants their businesses to be successful and operate for a long time, you may not necessarily want to remain at the helm. At some point, you may want to pass the business on to your children, or to someone else in the company. You may want to sell your share to your business
If someone gave you the opportunity to attend a meeting where thousands of your prospects were also present, you’d be silly not to take them up on the offer…right? This opportunity might be staring you in the face. LinkedIn is the world’s largest database of professionals; hundreds of millions of professionals waiting there, ready to
So you’ve got a great idea for your business, but you don’t have the funds right now to get it off the ground. You could try applying for a government grant, but it’s often a long and arduous bureaucratic process of form filling and there are of course no guarantees you’ll get the money. Some
ATO Text Messages
Australian Taxation Office Text Messages Over the last week we have been contacted by some concerned clients who have received ATO text messages. The ATO recently advised they will contact taxpayers via text message for overdue form lodgements or overdue payments of GST or Income Tax. However, the ATO will never ask you to respond via
Any business that isn’t planning for the future is planning to get left behind. While most business owners know that budgeting is a critical part of their planning, there is some confusion about which components should be included in a budget. There are three critical elements. Together, they provide the oversight you need for your
In a lot of situations, hiring a contractor to get a particular job done makes perfect sense. It may require expertise or skills none of your employees has. You may only need someone for a short timeframe to clear a backlog of work. Or maybe you just want to avoid having to go through a
“The cloud” is a phrase that means something very different these days, due to the increasing use of cloud computing. But what exactly is cloud computing? And is it a good option for small businesses? First, a quick definition. Without getting lost in ‘geekspeak’, cloud computing simply means both the software apps you use and
Thomas Edison once said that “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration”. Unfortunately, going from that inspirational idea to the finished product takes a lot more than hard work. Just like Edison, you also need to invest in a lot of research and development. And R&D doesn’t come cheap. Fortunately the Federal Government
When Benjamin Franklin said that the only things certain in life were “death and taxes” most people didn’t consider that they may be closely linked. But problems with taxes can lead to the death of your small business unless you take steps to keep the taxman off your back.
Intellectual property. It’s a hot topic. Why? Because, in the globalised and ultra-connected world we live in, the intellectual property (IP) of individuals and businesses is increasingly at risk.
“Signing on the dotted line.” It wasn’t all that long ago that phrase meant signing pen-on-paper. Increasingly these days it can also mean signing on-screen with a stylus—or even with your finger tip!—or by using your computer and keyboard. So why have many businesses moved to using electronic signatures? What are the advantages over using
Two things first up: (1) If you want to (or have to) work past the age of 55, you need to read this article; or (2) If you know someone else who that applies to, please forward them this article or a link to it. They’ll thank you for it.
How highly do you value leads in your business? For any small or medium business, leads should be the most highly prized currency — to be consistently sought and converted.
As a business owner, do you or your managers spend a lot of time recruiting, conducting exit interviews, and onboarding new staff? When the ‘revolving door’ in and out of your business doesn’t stop revolving, it can impact so many parts of the business that it soon becomes a priority to address the problem.
Thinking of selling? Or just curious to know the value of your business in case you do decide to put it on the market at some point? Many business owners are well-wide of the mark when placing a value on their prized asset. They overvalue it and under-prepare for their exit, believing in a huge
There’s a saying in business, “You can go broke making a profit.” And another, “Cash is king. Profit is theory.” As you know only too well, you don’t pay rent, meet payroll or pay your bills with profit.
In order to claim superannuation contributions as a tax deduction your payment to super has to be made and cleared within the superannuation fund by 30th June 2018.