Tax
Tax
What the ATO is cracking down on at tax time
Nassim Khadem 12:15 AM Each year about 12.4 million Australians claim more $30 billion in deductions against their income, now the ATO is cracking down.
INSIGHT
Why bracket creep is here to stay
Clancy Yeates For all the fuss about bracket creep, its impact is often overestimated.
MONEY BRAIN
Does tax make us behave like monkeys?
Catherine Robson The end of the financial year is a time for financial reflection and proactive planning.
WELL HEELED
Make most of your tax situation
Melissa Browne Many people are quick to complain about how changes to our tax system will affect them, but they won't do anything about it.
This time it's the Coalition promising things it can't afford
Peter Martin Labor ought to consider reversioning the old 1980's AIDS slogan: "I like sex, but I'm not prepared to die for it."
TAX
Accountants using offshore outsourcing
Jo Stewart Australian consumers are used to the offshore call centre when dealing with telcos. But would you expect your accountant to outsource your tax return to a cheap outfit overseas?
Your checklist for tax time
Sally Patten With just three weeks to go before the end of the financial year, sprinters have limited time to get their financial affairs in order before the taxman comes calling
WELL HEELED
How to value start-up share options
Melissa Browne If you're tossing up whether to work for a start-up you need to understand how share options work.
ASSET CHECK
Time to reduce your tax bill
Daryl Dixon ​With the end of the tax year looming, now's the time to implement strategies to reduce this year's taxation bills.
Negative gearing report linked to Morrison ally
James Massola and Peter Martin Draft report makes bold claims that have alarmed some of the people it has been circulated to.
Hard to see clearly with so much ink
Peter Martin Attack a squid and it squirts out ink. That could be why we are suddenly awash with reports on negative gearing.
'Aussie John' is wrong. Here's why
Peter Martin ''Aussie John'' has got it wrong. Labor isn't planning to hit negative gearing on all established housing overnight.
Negative gearing's hidden taxpayer cost
Peter Martin Taxpayers who negatively gear cost other taxpayers an average of $310 per year, a new analysis of Tax Office data shows.
BUDGET 2016
Budget 2016: max tax bang for buck
Melissa Browne An accountant shares tax strategies arising from the 2016 federal budget for individuals, businesses, and employees.
$80,000 is anything but average Scott Morrison
Peter Martin If Scott Morrison thinks that by offering tax cuts to Australians earning more than $80,000 he is helping average workers, he doesn't know much about what an average worker earns.
NEGATIVE GEARING
How investors outgun first home buyers
Caitlin Fitzsimmons It's not just that one in three buyers are investors, it's also that they're disproportionately competing with first-home buyers.
Turnbull out on a limb over negative gearing
Peter Martin You've heard the one about the one-year-old who's buying a house.
Tax benefits for top earners cost $11b
Peter Martin Surgeons, anesthetists, finance managers and lawyers will be the overwhelming beneficiaries of the Turnbull government's decision not to touch negative gearing in the budget, research shows.
Still time to defuse the super time bomb
Peter Martin Australia's tax system is set to skew toward the rich unless this government or the next intervenes.
Morrison needs a reality check on tax
Peter Martin The government's theme for selling the budget reads like a Seinfeld script.
Coalition plans tougher crackdown on super to outflank Labor
Peter Martin The Turnbull government is preparing to trump Labor in the budget, cracking down harder on high-income superannuation tax concessions to raise four times as much.
TAX
Easy tax deductions you've probably forgotten
Kate Cowling Beyond the handbag or man bag, there are easy deductions taxpayers miss every year.
WELL HEELED
How to claim a handbag as a tax deduction
Melissa Browne Handbags can be tax deductible if you use them for work, but the Tax Office is fussy about documentation.
Commission backs Labor tax policy to balance budget
Peter Martin, Jessica Irvine A high-powered independent commission has backed Labor's approach to capital gains tax and negative gearing, undercutting prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and treasurer Scott Morrison who say it will "smash" housing prices.
Meet the millionaires who pay no income tax
Peter Martin Paying tax has become optional for 56 of Australia's highest earners. Newly-released tax statistics show each of the 56 paid next to no income tax in 2013–14, not even the Medicare Levy, even though each more than $1 million.
We are becoming a nation of landlords and serfs
Peter Martin Forget the Australian dream, we just want to ‘get ahead’ now - with negative gearing.
Tax wine as beer 'and raise $2.9b'
Peter Martin Taxing wine and cider the same as beer and lifting the rate by 5 to 6¢ for a glass of beer would raise $2.9 billion a year, much of which could fund tax relief, the Treasury has been told.
Modeller lauded by Coalition opposed negative gearing
Peter Martin Negative gearing encourages excessive use of debt, lifts overseas borrowings and raises real interest rates, according to the economist whose work on the subject has been lauded by the treasurer Scott Morrison.
Economy picks up as income dives, budget weakens
Peter Martin Australians shrugged off sliding national income and meagre pay rises to dip into their savings at the end of last year, delivering a surprise surge in spending that pushed up economic growth to 3 per cent, well in excess of the budget forecast.
ASSET CHECK
Labor plan encourages higher gearing
Daryl Dixon If the tax-exempt proportion of capital gains is cut to 25 per cent, it will change the original objective of taxing only real capital gains.
