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Summary of Measures

Summary of Measures

Summary of Measures

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) will provide administrative relief for certain tax obligations for taxpayers affected by the Coronavirus outbreak, on a case-by-case basis.

Negotiate a tax payment plan
You can ask for more time to pay your tax debt or arrange for a payment plan that may have zero or low interest. This includes amounts owing on your activity statement.

Payment deferrals
If you have been impacted by COVID-19, the ATO have undertaken to work with you to defer payment of certain taxes up to six months.

Monthly GST credits
Businesses on a quarterly reporting cycle may elect to change their GST reporting and payment to monthly, to get quicker access to GST refunds they are entitled to.

Pay As You Go Instalments variations
The ATO is relaxing the rules regarding variations and will allow affected businesses to vary pay as you go instalment amounts to zero for the March 2020 quarter. Business that vary to zero can claim a refund for any instalments made for the September 2019 and December 2019 quarters.

Remitting interest and penalties
Where your business is affected by COVID-19, the ATO will consider remitting interest and penalties incurred after 23 January 2020 that have been applied to tax liabilities.

Superannuation guarantee payments
The ATO has advised that employers still need to meet their superannuation guarantee obligations, and that the ATO cannot vary the contribution date or waive the superannuation guarantee charge where super guarantee payments are late or unpaid. If you are unable to meet your superannuation guarantee obligations for the March 2020 quarter, the ATO advice is that you should lodge an SGC statement with the ATO by 28 May 2020 to avoid additional nominal interest and penalties. The ATO is currently providing lenient payment plan terms and flexibility and which are definitely beneficial, however these late payments will remain non-deductible. This, unfortunately, is a feature of the law and not something that can be administratively changed by the ATO.

The ATO has released a list of administrative measures available to those affected by COVID-19, available here.

Additionally, the ATO has created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, available here, which provides guidance on a large range of issues.

TO DO NOW: Please contact us to discuss the options available to you in relation to your current tax obligations, particularly in relation to deferring and/or re-calculating your PAYG Instalments.




DISCLAIMER:

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

The content of this newsletter is general in nature. It does not constitute specific advice and readers are encouraged to consult their Ruddicks adviser on any matters of interest. Ruddicks accepts no liability for errors or omissions, or for any loss or damage suffered as a result of any person acting without such advice. This information is current as at 24 March 2020, and was published around that time. Ruddicks particularly accepts no obligation or responsibility for updating this publication for events, including changes to the law, the Australian Taxation Office’s interpretation of the law, or Government announcements arising after that time.

Any advice provided is not ‘financial product advice’ as defined by the Corporations Act. Ruddicks is not licensed to provide financial product advice and taxation is only one of the matters that you need to consider when making a decision on a financial product. You should consider seeking advice from an Australian Financial Services licensee before making any decisions in relation to a financial product. © Ruddicks 2020

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