Diane Bremner - Unique loyalty in a career of service
Photo care of Quest Community Newspapers
Whytes would like to formally thank our Office administration manager Diane Bremner who retires on 25th March 2011 after 44 years with the firm.
Diane started in 1967, before all but one of our 30 staff was born. At that time, the business was a public company as opposed to the present partnership. She is now 65 years of age. She started at age 21 in the days when the office had ‘tea ladies’ and initially worked in the ‘typing pool’ of about 20 ladies, manually typing tax up returns (with 2 carbon copies) and financial accounts on giant typewriters.
Diane is finishing in a time when she is doing the same work ‘paperless’ with laptops, scanners, emails, skype, portals, intranets and internet, so she has seen some significant technological advances in the office.
She babysat Scott 40 and Andrew Whyte 44 (sons of Archie Whyte 84, the founder of the firm) who are now 2 of the 6 partners in the firm. Diane keeps an ‘autograph’ book from some of our higher profile clients and notes the likes of Berrick Barnes, Shane Webcke, Grant Hackett, Tim Horan and Jimmy Maher as her favourites.
Diane is unassuming and has no doubt contributed to the longevity and stability of our firm. Her employer loyalty is unique in these more transient employment times and Whytes honour her dedication and wish her a well deserved retirement.
What's In Store For 2011?
Various forecasts have been made on Australia's likely economic performance through 2011 including:
Reserve Bank of Australia cash rate of around 5%, currently 4.75%.
Growth to be around 2.6% (just under 3% last year).
Retail sales are expected to be a little stronger.
Unemployment rate is expected to be as high as 6%.
Currency fluctuations are expected during 2011, but $US to $AU is expected to be around 90 cents, as compared to last year's range of 87 cents to $1.02.
Although the Gold Coast has escaped floods and the effects of the cyclones, international tourism will probably still suffer from the high $AU and the effects of the Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi.
Added to this mix are the significant economic costs and strains from floods, cyclones and bush fires which have affected virtually every part of Australia, with the Queensland economy suffering a severe blow from the central and south Queensland floods and the effects of Cyclone Yasi on North Queensland.
Government assistance packages, including grants and loans, have been announced for small business and primary producers for which, if your business is in a declared disaster area and you are eligible, we recommend that you lodge an application.
On the world scene, China is still very strong and continues to be a major customer for many Australian minerals. High debt nations are expected to continue to be a drag on confidence during 2011. Many other countries around the world will continue with weak economic activities.
Small business operators need to be vigilant in the monitoring of debtors, investment in stock and work in progress, continually reviewing their business' economic performance. This can be enhanced by preparing regular budgets and cashflow forecasts, preparing regular financial accounts and benchmarking your business' performance against other similar businesses to identify strengths and weaknesses as compared to your counterparts.
We can assist you with a wide range of business development activities, including applications for government assistance; preparation and monitoring of budgets and cashflow forecasts; review of periodic financial accounts and analysing benchmark comparisons of your business against other similar businesses. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you wish to discuss any aspects of your business' performance.
Fringe Benefits Tax – Good time to review
As we head towards the end of the FBT year (31 March) it is a good time to consider year end FBT matters and planning. Even more so this year as the Taxation Office has FBT compliance clearly in its sights having ramped up its FBT compliance and audit activities.
The Taxation Office has indicated that they are increasing their level of compliance activity, with their focus including non-lodging employers, correct treatment of employee contributions, cars, entertainment and the minor benefits exemption.
Like year end tax planning, FBT planning is often best done earlier rather than later. There are still planning opportunities for this FBT year end but it is also a good time to review future FBT reduction opportunities.
In preparation for year end, employers and employees should consider the following:
Odometer Readings: remember to obtain odometer readings for cars at 31 March.
Maximise kilometres: consider strategies to increase kilometres travelled on cars that are close to reaching the number of kilometres necessary to put them in the next statutory fraction bracket.
Where operating cost method is used: check that a log book has been prepared and that it is not more than 5 years old.
Minor and infrequent benefits: determine if any benefits are under $300
.
Superannuation Excess Contributions Tax - be careful
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has confirmed a superannuation excess non-concession contributions tax assessment of $86,867 against a taxpayer for breaching the $1 million non-concessional contributions cap during the transitional period to 30June 2007 (which existed at the time).
The taxpayer had argued that a $355,000 payment from her personal superannuation fund in June 2007 was received by her in a capacity as trustee before being on-paid to her new superannuation fund and, therefore, should be treated as a roll-over superannuation benefit. However, the Tribunal found the amount was received by the taxpayer and treated by her an as eligible termination payment before being on-paid to the new fund as a non-concessional contribution.
TIP: Different annual contribution caps apply depending on your age and whether your contributions are classified as "concessional" or "non-concessional". Contributions above the annual contributions caps are subject to excess contributions tax levied on the individual.
Keeping your backups in the “Cloud”
In the wake of the natural disasters that have hit Australia and in fact the world, businesses everywhere are looking at storing their records via cloud computing. This allows access to records from virtually anywhere.
The ATO accepts that the servers used for storage of these records do not have to be in Australia. Conversely in New Zealand, the servers storing the data need to be situated in New Zealand to comply with their tax law.
The ATO accepts the imaging of business paper records onto an electronic storage medium, provided the electronic copies are:
a true and clear reproduction of the original paper records
kept for five years
capable of being retrieved and read at all times.
You don’t have to keep original paper records once they have been imaged onto an electronic storage medium. Basic record keeping principles and practices apply, regardless of whether you keep manual or electronic business records.
Superannuation Benefit and Payment by Cheque
The Tax Office has issued a determination which states that a superannuation benefit payable with a cheque or promissory note is "cashed" at the time the cheque or note is "received" by the member or beneficiary, provided the trustee's objective intention is to immediately transfer funds from the SMSF to the member or beneficiary. The Tax Office said this will only be the case where the money is payable immediately and available for payment when the instrument is received.
