Taxation for Australian Businesses: Understanding Australian Business Taxation Concessions

Taxation for Australian Businesses: Understanding Australian Business Taxation Concessions

Released October 2014
Publisher(s): Wrightbooks
ISBN: 9780730309321

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Book description

Simplify tax and save money with streamlined bookkeeping

Small businesses are often just that—small. Bookkeeping may be done by a professional outside the company, but more often falls to an employee or the business owner, who may or may not be well-schooled in the intricacies of tax law and business regulations. Tax time can end up costing small businesses a fortune in either professional fees or missed deductions every year. What if you could simplify the process and save money?

Taxation for Australian Businesses: Understanding Australian Business Taxation Concessions is the ultimate guide to tax for the small business owner. Author Rod Caldwell, 20-year veteran of the Australian Taxation Office, leads you through the process of managing your books and keeping more straightforward records to simplify the process of filing tax. The introduction of the GST and the new tax system involves a lot of new work for business owners, but Taxation for Australian Businesses eases the way by explaining the intricacies of applicable tax law, fully updated to parallel the May 2014 budget. Topics include:

  • Business structures, accounting systems, and cash accounting

  • FBT, private versus domestic use, and when to record a payment

  • Motor vehicles, the GST, and depreciation

  • Owners salary, end of period processing, and how to account for stock trading

    • The book explains everything you need to know and ties it all together to show you how to put the information into practice. No jargon, no textbooks, just common sense and reason. If you would like to get your bookkeeping straightened out and get back to your business, Taxation for Australian Businesses: Understanding Australian Business Taxation Concessions is the one guide that will get you there quickly.

    Table of contents

    1. About the author
    2. Preface
    3. 1 A general discussion of taxation
      1. Is this book for you?
      2. Conservative advice
      3. Am I in business?
      4. The ‘Big 4’
      5. State-based taxation
      6. Small business concessions
      7. Private use of business assets
      8. Bookkeeping and recording systems
    4. 2 Business structures
      1. Tax-effective business structures
      2. So exactly what is a trust?
      3. How much tax does each structure incur?
      4. Women rule!
      5. Tax rules
      6. Family discretionary trusts
      7. Unit trusts
      8. Trusts and tax law
      9. My recommendation
    5. 3 Taxable income
      1. Assessable income
      2. Allowable deductions
      3. Cash versus accrual accounting
      4. Cash accounting
      5. Income
      6. Expenses
      7. A note on fringe benefits tax
    6. 4 Capital allowances (depreciating assets)
      1. What is an asset?
      2. What is a depreciating asset?
      3. Pooled assets
      4. Blackhole expenditure
      5. Depreciating ‘rental’ stock
      6. Primary producers
      7. Project pools
      8. A footnote on the $300 immediate write-off
    7. 5 Trading stock (inventory)
      1. The value of your trading stock
      2. The taxation of trading stock
      3. The small business concessions
      4. The annual stocktake
      5. Trading stock valuation
      6. Tax planning
      7. Other issues
    8. 6 Capital gains tax (CGT)
      1. Introducing the CGT
      2. CGT in summary
      3. CGT in a little more depth
      4. Tax structures and income streaming
    9. 7 Fringe benefits tax (FBT)
      1. Introducing the FBT
      2. Private use by your employees
      3. Private use by company owners
      4. A recap: private use by business owners
      5. How to avoid the FBT liability
    10. 8 Motor vehicles
      1. Business vehicles
      2. Cars
    11. 9 Goods and services tax (GST)
      1. If you are not registered for the GST
      2. If you are registered for the GST
      3. Paying the GST
      4. Simplified accounting method (SAM) for food retailers
    12. 10 Putting it all together
      1. Tax accounting
      2. End-of-period processing
    13. 11 Employing staff
      1. The legal requirements of employing staff
      2. Putting it all together
    14. 12 Running a business through a family discretionary trust
      1. What is a family discretionary trust?
      2. Taxation income streaming
      3. Problems you can encounter
      4. The costs associated with trust accounting
    15. Appendix A: Effective life schedule
    16. Appendix B: Tax rates, 2014–15
    17. Index
    18. Learn more with practical advice from our experts
    19. End User License Agreement

    Product information

    • Title: Taxation for Australian Businesses: Understanding Australian Business Taxation Concessions
    • Author(s):
    • Release date: October 2014
    • Publisher(s): Wrightbooks
    • ISBN: 9780730309321