Anyone that has had a bad experience after navigating the maze of bureaucracy that is the Tax Office may be reminded of an old Latin phase “quis custodiet ipsos custodes” which loosely translates into “who watches the watchers?”.

With the rise the global economy and easy flow of money across borders, no country is immune to international tax evasion and money laundering.

New laws are now in place to target illegal phoenixing of companies which by some estimates costs businesses, employees and governments more than $2bn a year. At its core, illegal phoenixing is the use of serial deliberate insolvency as a business model to avoid paying company debts.

A superannuation guarantee loophole that allowed employers to use salary sacrificed contributions to make up part of their required super guarantee contributions has been closed.

With the cost of studying at university going up every year, a new combined, renewable student loan limit has been implemented from 1 January 2020 to enable university students borrow more to cover the cost of tuition.

Do you provide car parking to your employees on your business premises? If the parking meets certain conditions you may have to pay fringe benefits tax (FBT) on those and other benefits you provide to your employees.

Laws limiting foreign residents’ ability to claim the CGT main residence exemption are now in place. This means that if you’re a foreign resident at the time of disposal of the property that was your main residence, you may not be entitled to an exemption and may be liable for tens of thousands in capital gains tax.

The new year means more help for first home buyers to get on the property ladder. The new First Home Loan Deposit Scheme came into effect on 1 January 2020 and seeks to provide eligible first home buyers on low and middle incomes with a guarantee so they can purchase a residential property with a deposit of as little as 5%.

Running a business and ensuring your employees are paid the correct super can be difficult and inadvertent mistakes can be made from time to time.

In 2018, the ATO issued a controversial draft ruling which took a very strict stance on the four-year time limit for claiming input tax credits and fuel tax credits. The ruling had been used by the ATO to deny input tax credits and fuel tax credits where the Commissioner makes a decision on an objection or amendment request outside the 4-year period.

As bushfires continue to rage across the country, support for devastated communities are coming from all sides and the ATO is no exception. It has announced automatic deferrals for lodgement and payments for taxpayers in impacted postcodes in the states of NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.

In response to the recommendations of the Banking and Financial services Royal Commission and the ASIC Enforcement Review Taskforce Report, the government has proposed new enforcement and supervision powers for ASIC to restore consumer confidence in the financial system, particularly in relation to financial advice.

With all the pandemonium of the holiday season and the end of the year rush, your super is probably the last thing on your mind. However, this is precisely the right time to think about implementing some strategies to increase your super for the coming year.

The ATO has expanded the tax avoidance taskforce to include top 500 private groups, high wealth private groups, and medium and emerging private groups. Perhaps the most interesting is the inclusion of medium and emerging private groups which cover around 97% of the total private group population.

Previously, it was thought that any benefit provided directly or indirectly to members or related parties of an SMSF from an investment would contravene the sole purpose test. However, a Full Federal Court decision has reframed the sole purpose test which will provide some flexibility to trustees on certain investments.