Welcome to our December Monthly Newsletter!
We are now in December, the season of joy! We hope that all of our small business clients are able to take some time out with their families over the holiday period. Our office will be closed from Monday, 23rd of December 2019 and will re-open Monday, 6th January 2020. Please contact our office if you wish to discuss anything before we close or you require assistance with payroll and working out those annual leave payments for employees.
Monthly tax tip:
Now that Christmas is just around the corner, you will probably be wondering what to do about gifts for clients and staff members. Well we have some good news for you, majority of small gifts to staff and clients are tax deductible with just a few exceptions. Small gifts for clients are generally tax deductible if they are given in hopes of making a future profit and are not a private gift, e.g. a bottle of champagne might be gifted to your larger clients as a Christmas gift to thank them for their business – this is tax deductible but if you were to also gift a family member that happened to be a client (not considered one of your larger clients) then it would be considered a personal gift and not tax deductible.
Small gifts to employees are also tax deductible as long as they are a standard gift and not an entertainment based gift, e.g. a watch is tax deductible but a ticket to a sports game is not. If you do plan on gifting employees at Christmas time then you may also want to keep an eye on the cost – if the gift totals $300 or over then it could trigger fringe benefits tax. A way around this could be buying a gift for less than $300 and also providing the employee with a bonus in their pay cheque. Just keep note that the bonus will be taxed at the employees individual tax rates.
If you would like to schedule a consultation with us then please jump onto our website where you can see our availabilities and book a time that suits you.
Important Dates!
1 December:
Pay income tax for the 2019 tax year if taxpayer is a taxable medium/large company or superfund
Pay income tax for the 2019 tax year if taxpayer is a company or superfund and lodgement was due by 31 October 2019
21 December:
Lodge and pay November 2019 monthly business/instalment activity statement