In the corporate world we often refer to people rising in the ranks as “climbing the corporate ladder”…but last Sunday The Tax Chic did some climbing of a different kind…

The second annual Stadium Stomp was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and I was there to take part.

According to the official Stadium Stomp website, “Stadium Stomp takes stair climbing and endurance events to a whole new level.  It’s Australia’s ultimate stair climbing challenge held at some of Australia’s largest and most well known stadiums”.

The full course involves going up and down the stairs of both level 1 and level 4 – a total of 7,343 stairs!  The most challenging part was on level 4 of the Olympic and Ponsford stands where the stairs are quite deep, the gradient steep and the rows going all the way up to “LL”!!  This also happens to be the very last section of the climb…it was tough!

I’m rather proud of myself and the other 2,300 odd competitors for making it through, and while my calves have been quite tender this week (Body Step has been extremely uncomfortable!)…I’ve got a medal and a cool drink bottle to prove I was there, and the satisfaction of knowing I’ve helped raise much needed funds for the Leukaemia Foundation!

What’s my next fitness challenge?  Any suggestions?

Regards

PS Apologies for the photo quality…

The taxation system in Australia is based on self assessment, meaning that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will accept a tax return lodged by a taxpayer, and will assess the tax liability, usually without adjustment.

While most Australians do the right thing, a small percentage choose to break the law by being deliberately dishonest which allows them to avoid paying their fair share of tax.

The ATO are committed to dealing with tax crime and want the community to have confidence in the tax system and the way it is maintained.  As such, they have a number of measures in place to identify fraudulent activity…and deter it, including:

Tax refund checks: by way of specialist technology, these checks can take place before or after a refund has been issued.

Data matching: with banks and financial institutions as well as various Government agencies which helps to identify sales and purchases of houses, cars, boats and other items which may indicate a person has not declared all of their income.

Small business benchmarks: where financial ratios of similar businesses are applied to business financial figures to help identify if a business is reporting all of its income.

Reviews and audits: which are designed to maintain compliance and address the risk of non-compliance.

Using a registered tax agent is a good precaution against inadvertently lodging an incorrect income tax return, with the level of experience they have there are many questions they can ask that you may not have thought of, but ultimately you are still legally responsible for the accuracy of the information on your tax return – so please be careful.

Regards

The new financial year often sees business take the opportunity to review the salaries and wages of their staff.

Many organisations conduct a formal review process which includes questionnaires, goal setting, measurement of key performance indicators and interviews…while others are less formal.

The level of formality might depend on the nature of your work and type of organisation you work for, as well as where you sit in your organisation…but if you have a goal of where you would like to be in the future…now is a great time to take the initiative and ask for a formal review process to be implemented.

In the event that you are rewarded with a pay rise…congratulations…but there are a few things you should consider, primarily how you’ll spend it?  By spending, I do also mean saving, or how you can utilise it in a wealth creation or tax effective manner.

Earning a pay rise is cause for celebration, but is also a great time to review your financial situation, so make an appointment to see your accountant to discuss, they may then refer you to a financial planner if required.

PS in talking with your advisors, please make sure you also review your income protection insurance…that’s one many people often forget!

Regards

It’s tax time!…how could we not know that?

Apart from being reminded by yours truly…rarely a day goes by at the moment without seeing an article in a newspaper or a commercial or segment on television or radio that talks about tax time – including tax tips, caution on common errors and myth busting!

I’m sure you’ve all seen something along those lines so I’m not going to go through them all again in this forum (although I will include some on The Tax Chic’s Facebook page over the coming weeks, so if you’re still interested, make sure you like the page and keep an eye out).

But the other thing to happen at this time of the year is that many taxpayers take it upon themselves to discuss their tax affairs in public – usually boasting about the refund they receive or the “dodgy” claims their accountant makes…?!

My advice to you all…is do not compare your tax return with anyone else! 

Everyone’s circumstances are different, and unless you are a tax professional, it is unlikely that you would be able to determine why there is such a difference…

The other thing to note is that there should be no “dodgy” claims!  The Australian tax system operates on the basis of self-assessment, which means that tax-payers can generally claim reasonable deductions, and a refund will be issued.  However, if those claims are found to be incorrect, it is the taxpayer who will be liable for the shortfall tax and any penalties the Australian Taxation Office apply.

If you are unsure, check with a registered tax agent!

Regards