Happy New Year! Well almost…

April 8, 2016

Peter Cramer

It’s less than 12 weeks to the end of the Financial Year!

That fact means that there are lots of things we should be thinking about putting in place before the tax year runs out.

• Put in place final salary sacrifice plans so that you make full use of the tax deductible super available to you: pay less tax and grow your future wealth.
• Having a poor or bad income year? Great time to transfer shares to your SMSF and trigger those nasty Capital Gains and eliminate them for good. The CG made on transfer might be eliminated by tax losses or offset by the super deduction – either way you may permanently get rid of the future tax liability.
• If you don’t have a SMSF – maybe you should! The ability to move assets into super may become harder shortly, so do it whilst you can.
• Farmer with a poor season? Might be a good time to pull out those FMDs and use the cash flow. Makes perfect tax planning, deposit them in good years and take them out in bad.
• Interest rates are low and look like remaining low for some time. Seek investment opportunities with the low cost of funds. Many are pessimistic at this time, so that generally turns out in hindsight to have been a good time to invest!
• Review your existing loans – can you get a better deal from your finance provider? Ask.
• Don’t forget to write down what your car’s speedo was on 31/3/16. This might be required for a FBT calculation later!
• Do you employ people? You must start paying employee super contributions using Superstream by 1/7/16.
• Review your current tax position – plan what to do before June 30 so as to get some tax deductions and lower both personal and business tax.
• If you haven’t already – start thinking about the big picture – the future, the next 10 years.
• What will you be doing, with whom, what work, business, farming activity will you be engaged in? What would you like to be doing in 10 years? Start putting a plan in place to get you there. Will you be here in 10 years? If unlikely – you better have a succession and estate plan in place! If you don’t….get started – come and see us.

So – there are a few things we should all be doing in the next 12 weeks! We can assist you in many of the above areas – come in for a chat about it and start planning your future….and get ready for the New Year’s party!