Latest News

YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO TAKE STEPS TO REDUCE YOUR TAX BILL!

It’s that time of the year again. The end of the 2009 financial year is fast approaching!

Don’t leave tax planning for the current financial year to the last minute. Even at this late stage it could be to your advantage to talk to the Ballast Accounting team, particularly if you have experienced a capital gain or an increase in income.
So what are some of the strategies you should be looking at right now?
Taking advantage of government co-contributions. This involves making non-tax deductible super contributions with a view to maximising the co-contribution you get from the Government.
Contributions on behalf of your spouse. Where your spouse’s income is $10,800 or less you could get a $540 tax offset on the first $3000 you contribute to their super fund from your after tax income. This offset amount decreases as your partner’s income increases, cutting out at $13,800.
Salary sacrifice. Boosting your super via salary sacrifice can be extremely attractive. Generally you will pay less tax than if you took your full salary as cash. This is a tax effective strategy because you will have to only pay the 15% contributions tax and not your marginal tax rate on this portion of your income.
While it may not have much effect in the current financial year, this is a good time to get this strategy implemented for the coming financial year.
Superannuation contributions. There is a limit of $25,000 on your pre tax contributions in any one year.
However, if you turn 50 before the end of the current financial year, you will be entitled to a higher pre tax contribution limit of $50,000 from the time you turn 50 until June 2012.
If you are self employed. If you are self employed your personal concessional super contributions are 100% tax deductible. But be aware of limits to such concessional contributions.
Pre-paid deductions. By prepaying deductible prepaid expenses you can reduce your tax liability in the current financial year if you are a small business entity.
Capital losses. By selling non performing assets now you will be able to bring these capital losses forward into the current financial year to offset any capital gains.
Call us now to arrange a meeting where we can discuss what we can do for you now and in the coming financial year.