Low and middle income tax offset also now law
In addition, from the 2018/19 income year (i.e., last income year):
- The low and middle income tax offset ('LAMITO') has been increased from a maximum amount of $530 to $1,080 per annum and the base amount increased from $200 to $255 per annum; and
- Taxpayers with a taxable income:
— of $37,000 or below can now receive a LAMITO of up to $255;
— above $37,000 and below $48,001 can now receive $255, plus an amount equal to 7.5% to the maximum offset of $1,080;
— above $48,000 and below $90,001 are now eligible for the maximum LAMITO of $1,080; and
— above $90,000 but is no more than $126,000 are now eligible for a LAMITO of $1,080, less an amount equal to 3% of the excess.
The ATO is implementing the necessary system
changes so taxpayers that have already lodged
their 2018/19 tax return will receive any increase
to the LAMITO they are entitled to (any tax refund
should be deposited in the taxpayer's nominated
bank account). There will not be any need to
request an amendment.
Those who are yet to lodge their tax return will have any offset they are entitled to taken into account during the normal processing of their return.
ATO "puts the brakes" on dodgy car claims
The ATO is making work-related car expenses a
key focus again during Tax Time 2019.
Assistant Commissioner Karen Foat said over 3.6
million people made a work-related car expense
claim in 2017/18, totalling more than $7.2 billion.
“We are still concerned that some taxpayers
aren’t getting the message that over-claiming will
be detected and if it is deliberate, penalties will
apply,” she said.
“While some people do make legitimate mistakes,
we are concerned that many people are deliberately
making dodgy claims in order to get a bigger refund.
We see taxpayers claiming for things like private
trips, trips they didn’t make, and car expenses their
employer paid for or reimbursed them for.”
One in five car claims are exactly at the maximum
limit that doesn’t require receipts.
Under the cents per kilometre method, taxpayers
don’t need to keep receipts, but they do need
to be able to demonstrate how they worked out
the number of kilometres they travelled for work
purposes.
The ATO’s sophisticated analytics compares
taxpayer claims with others earning similar amounts
in similar jobs.
Where the ATO identifies questionable claims,
they will contact taxpayers and ask them to show
how they have calculated their claim, and in some
cases the ATO may even contact employers to
confirm whether a taxpayer was required to use
their own car for work-related travel.
Case studies
The ATO’s sophisticated data analytics found a
range of unsupported claims in 2018, including:
- When the ATO asked a taxpayer to provide the logbook to support a claim of $4,800, they found the taxpayer was referring to a car service logbook rather than a logbook kept for calculating their work use car percentage (the taxpayer had not undertaken any work-related car travel during the year).
- Another claim was flagged by the ATO's analytics indicating a taxpayer, a retail worker, had incorrectly claimed $350 for the cost of public transport to and from work.
- The ATO also identified an office worker claiming $3,300 for 5000 kilometres of work-related travel using the cents per kilometre method, but it turned out the taxpayer's claim was based on trips he made from home to work.
Private health insurance statements now optional
Taxpayers with private health insurance should
be aware that insurance providers are no longer
required to provide statements to their members.
Taxpayers lodging their tax returns using a
registered tax agent should have their health
insurance details 'pre-filled' into their return (but
they will need to contact their health insurer if they
cannot get this information for some reason).
FBT and taxi travel
Taxi travel by an employee is an exempt benefit for
FBT purposes if the travel is a single trip beginning
or ending at the employee's place of work (or if it is a
result of sickness or injury in certain circumstances).
However, the ATO is reminding taxpayers that
this exemption is limited to travel undertaken in a
vehicle that is licensed to operate as a taxi by the
relevant State or Territory, and does not extend to
travel undertaken in a ride-sourcing vehicle or other
vehicle for hire that do not hold such a licence.
ATO rates and thresholds
Editor: The ATO has updated a number of rates and
thresholds on their website, including the following.
Division 7A – benchmark interest rate
The Division 7A benchmark interest rate for the
2020 income year is 5.37% (up from the rate for
the 2019 income year of 5.20%).
Car cost limit for depreciation
The maximum value taxpayers can use for
calculating depreciation of cars is the car limit in
the year in which they first used or leased the car.
In the 2019/20 income year, the car limit is $57,581,
unchanged from the 2018/19 year.
Capital improvement threshold
The improvement threshold for the 2019/20 income
year is $153,093, up from $150,386 for the 2018/19
income year.
SMSF LRBA interest rates
An interest rate of 5.94% charged by an SMSF
in the 2020 income year under a limited recourse
borrowing arrangement ('LRBA') to acquire real
property would be consistent with the ATO's safe
harbour terms (or 7.94% for listed shares or units).
ATO Data Matching Program: HELP, VSL and/or TSL debts
The ATO is conducting a data matching program
for the 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial
years to identify individuals with an existing Higher
Education Loan Program ('HELP'), Vocational
Education and Training Student Loan ('VSL') and/
or Trade Support Loans ('TSL') debt who may not
be meeting their registration, lodgment and/or
payment obligations.
This data collection is expected to involve
approximately 3 million individuals each year.
Please Note: Many of the comments in this publication are general in nature and anyone intending to apply the information to practical circumstances should seek professional advice to independently verify their interpretation and the information’s applicability to their particular circumstances.