June 30 is right around the corner and chances are many businesses out there are yet to move on what is needed to ensure the end of financial year is passed smoothly. Here are 5 areas that I believe should be focused on:
Advisers
If you have yet to meet with your business accountant, get on it now. Gather those financial records and sit down with your financial planner, strategist, whoever it is that ensures your business’ records are up to date and accurate. Forking out some cash to get the right advice now, could save you more dollars later.
Of course, it’s important to note that you don’t simply aim for that accountant that can find you the biggest return. Be sure to have the right advisers, the ones that point out the areas of risk, not just the areas that you could see the most benefit.
Tax changes
Be sure that you are aware of any new changes the Australian Tax Office has brought in during the past year. The recent Budget released, for example, has introduced a $20,000 scheme that will allow businesses to depreciate assets the year it is bought and installed as ready for use.
“It will definitely see small businesses with spare cash looking at what assets they can acquire now to benefit their businesses growth prospects for the future,” John Corias, from mas accountants, said in a recent write up.
“This measure is set to expire on 30 June 2017, let’s hope that it can be continued past that date, even if the $20,000.00 limit gets reduced to a more sustainable amount.”
The biggest introduction seen with the budget may be the drop in the small business tax rate, down to 28.5 per cent from 30 per cent for small business seeing turnover under $2 million p.a.
Tax regulation updates can be found at the ATO website.
Super
As pointed out by the NAB, as the owner of a private company with surplus capital invested you could withdraw the finances, pay yourself a dividend and make a personal after-tax super contribution using the proceeds. It’s a tip that could prove beneficial to certain businesses, but it’s ultimately just one of many super-related elements to be aware of.
Be sure to be SuperStream compliant. If you’re an employer that has 20 or more employees, you should have started making contributions using SuperStream from July 1, 2014. You have until June 30, 2015, to ensure you’ve changed over. For small business employers, with 19 or fewer employees, your SuperStream soft-start begins on July 1, 2015, with one year to make the complete change.
This Employer Checklist makes a great guide to begin changing your super process, while the ATO’s SuperStream website provides plenty of information.
Ultimately, businesses should pay off whatever super contributions they owe prior to EOFY.
Review
Let’s put it simply, you need to be constantly reviewing your business plan and looking at how that portfolio is holding up. Yet, it doesn’t happen nearly enough. Take advantage of this period to revisit the forecasts made previously. Is every sector seeing the growth it should? How’s that balance between expenditure and revenue measuring out? Gather that team together and look over those finances. The business’ tax output and input will highlight areas that you may not have noticed are lacking. This is the opportune time to re-balance, re-calculate, re-invest, and re-consider areas of strategy.
