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The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) continues to expand its data-matching capability to ensure taxpayers don’t leave out income or inflate deductions this tax time. New data is now rolling into the ATO from property managers, landlord insurance providers, financial institutions providing loans for residential investment properties and sharing economy providers, as well as income protection policy information. ATO Assistant Commissioner Tim Loh said, ‘This isn’t a game of Guess Who,…  Read more

Welcome back to our Weekly Business Update – stay in the know with some recent news updates relevant to business and the economy. Suncorp forced to pay back $32 million to underpaid employees Suncorp’s insurance arm paid $32m to over 15,800 underpaid staff for not paying them the minimum wage. Read More Australian inflation is stubbornly high. Some countries don’t have that problem There is no one underlying cause of…  Read more

Announced last week, Suncorp’s (ASX: SUN) insurance arm has forked out about $32 million to more than 15,800 underpaid staff after revealing it failed to adequately pay employees the minimum wage since 2014. The payback includes interest and superannuation, including about $26 million in wages and entitlements, $4.5 million in interest, and $1.4 million in superannuation. Suncorp has entered into an enforceable undertaking (EU) – a written agreement with the Fair…  Read more

Welcome back to our Weekly Business Update – stay in the know with recent news and updates relevant to business and the economy. Be ready – recession or not Businesses should be prepared for a recession, even if one is not imminent. Planning ahead and having a strategy in place can help businesses survive and even thrive during a recession. This includes having a cash reserve, reducing costs, and diversifying…  Read more

For small business owners and payroll managers, staying up-to-date on the latest superannuation changes is essential. With the Australian Superannuation Guarantee (SG) set to increase from 10.5% to 11% from 1st July 2023, it’s important to understand what this means and how it could affect your business. As an employer, this increase, and subsequent increases, will have an impact on your payroll management and accounting systems. Here’s what you need…  Read more

Almost everyone knows someone who has been caught up in the annoying scam that has weaselled its way into the booming side hustle market. A common trick used by scammers is turning people off a handy payment system used by millions. PayID scams often crop up when someone tries to sell something on a sale service like Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree. Australians lost $260,000 to PayID-specific impersonation scams last year,…  Read more

Welcome back to our Weekly Business Update. Keeping you in the know with recent news updates relevant to business and the economy. ‘Most significant’ scam targeting Aussies Scammers have taken advantage of the second-hand sale market by using a PayID scam to steal over $260,000. The scam involves the scammers creating fake PayID accounts and using them to receive payments from unsuspecting buyers. This has caused a hit to the…  Read more

More than 6 million Australians have used the “buy now, pay later” lending services offered by Afterpay, Zip and more than a dozen other companies. Buy now, pay later offers an easy and convenient alternative to credit card services. You can sign up and have your loan approved almost immediately. One reason for this is that buy now, pay later companies aren’t regulated by the same consumer-protection rules that apply to other credit…  Read more

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point (rounded) to 3.7 per cent in April, according to data released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “with employment dropping by around 4,000 people and the number of unemployed increasing by 18,000 people, the unemployment rate rose to 3.7 per cent.” “The small fall in employment followed an average…  Read more

Welcome to our Weekly Business Update – stay in the know with recent news updates relevant to business and the economy. First Aussie social media platform for business owners launched A new social media platform, called ‘Business Connect’, has been launched in Australia. It is designed specifically for business owners, allowing them to connect with other business owners, share ideas, and access resources. It also provides a platform for businesses…  Read more

The Fair Work Commission is informing employers about changes to some registered employment agreements. Some employers and their employees are still covered by pre-2010 agreements (also known as ‘zombie agreements’). These agreements will terminate automatically in December. If you’re an employer with this type of agreement, you must tell your employees in writing about the coming changes. You must do this before 7 June 2023. The Fair Work Commission has published resourcesExternal…  Read more

On 1 July 2023, the general transfer balance cap will be indexed. Individuals will have a personal transfer balance cap between $1.6 and $1.9 million based on the highest ever balance of their transfer balance account between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2023. When will the ATO display the indexed amount? While indexation will occur on 1 July 2023, the ATO won’t be displaying member’s personal transfer balance caps until 11 July 2023.…  Read more

Welcome back to our OAW Weekly Business Update – stay in the know with recent news and updates relevant to business and the economy. The good, bad and indifferent of the Federal Budget: a small-business owner’s view The Federal Budget has both positives and negatives for small business owners, such as tax cuts and increased access to capital, but also increased compliance costs and a lack of support for the…  Read more

The Reserve Bank of Australia has today been warned aggressively increasing interest rates would push inflation down but cost hundreds of thousands of jobs. Internal modelling obtained by The Age newspaper revealed a far-larger 1 per cent hike in May would bring down inflation within its target of 2 per cent to 3 per cent earlier than forecast but it predicted the country’s jobless rate would rise to 4.5 per cent next year. That…  Read more

Rates rises have almost double mortgages for some Australians but something strange is happening to Aussie house prices. Australia’s house price recovery continued in April, with PropTrack’s dwelling values index recording a 0.1 per cent monthly rise to be up 1.4 per cent from its December trough. Sydney, the market which led the downturn, is now leading the recovery, with house prices rising 1.7 per cent year to date. The…  Read more

The Australian Government unveiled its annual budget this week, which aims to stimulate economic growth, address long-term challenges, and improve social services. The budget is focused on helping with the cost of living, with tax cuts for middle and low-income earners, while also allocating funding to health, education, and small businesses. If you have any questions about how this budget affects you, please get in touch. Tax Cuts One of…  Read more

Welcome back to our Weekly Business Update. Read on for the latest updates and news from the week. Australia has delivered first budget surplus in 15 years Australia has delivered its first budget surplus in 15 years, with a small surplus of around A$4 billion for the fiscal year ending June and deficit estimates for subsequent years also decreased. Australia to ban public vaping in major public health move Australia…  Read more

Nearly three quarters of Australians would sacrifice their inheritance so their parents and grandparents can spend the money on aged care instead, new research has found. Australians are dying wealthier than ever and have gifted almost $1.4 trillion — or about $67bn a year — in inheritances over the past two decades, according to the report. But new polling suggests most Millennials and members of Gen X would forgo this…  Read more

Welcome back to our Weekly Digest. Read on for the latest updates and some ideas to help us all move forward. Families faced with impossible decisions thanks to cost-of-living crisis 72% of Australians believe child poverty has worsened thanks to cost-of-living increases, a recent study found. That’s up from 56% in December 2020. Additionally, 81% of respondents believe child poverty will continue to worsen over the next year. Currently, around…  Read more

Australia’s Labor government is set to reveal a vast improvement in the budget’s bottom line next week as its coffers bulge with tax windfalls, yet the outlook will be a sober one as fiscal challenges still loom large. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has spent weeks using “restraint” and “responsible” to describe his second budget since taking office in May last year. There will be some money to offset cost of living pressures,…  Read more