So what happened to the market last year? Where is it going? Here is a two page quick read summary.

The proposed superannuation guarangee (‘SG’) amnesty is a one-off opportunity for employers to self-correct past SG non-compliance.

The ‘carrot’ currently on the table is that any eligible voluntary disclosures with respect to an SG shortfall can be made without penalty.

Subject to the passage of legislation currently before the Senate, the SG amnesty will be available from the 12-month period from 24 May 2018 to 23 May 2019.

The proposed SG amnesty appalies to previously undeclared SG shortfalls for any period from 1 July 1992 up to 31 March 2018.

It will not apply to a period starting on 1 April 2018 or subsequent periods.

Employers who voluntarily disclose previously undeclared SG shortfalls during the SG amnesty (i.e., importantly before the commencement of an ATO audit) will:

* Not be liable for the administration component and penalties that may otherwise apply to late SG payments, and

* Be able to claim a deduction for catch-up payments made during the relevant 12-month period.

This means that employers will still be required to pay all employee entitlements, including any unpaid SGT amounts owed to employees and the nominal interest, as well as any associated general interest charge (i.e., GIC).

Employers who are not up-to-date with their SG payment obligations to their employees and who don’t come forward durin the proposed SG amnesty have been put on notice by the ATO that they may face higher penalties in the future.

If you have any questions about the SG amnesty or would like some help from the friendly team at BSC Business Advisors, please click here to contact us or give the team a call on 3135 9420.

Last Friday at the Logan Small Business Expo BSC were proud to present our team and services to local businesses.

We also ran a couple of raffles and would like to congratulate the lucky winners:

• Winner of the Dinner Voucher was Lorraine from Retro Lil
• Winner of the Movie Voucher was Linda from Linda’s Lingerie

Thanks to everyone that came and entered the raffle – hope to see you all at the next one!

Regards

The friendly team at BSC Business Advisors

Our newsletter this week comes via Centrepoint Alliance and is entitled ‘Prepare for Life’ – in this issue we’ll take a look at a few articles. The first is ‘Are you prepared?’ and involves some information on life insurance. We also have details on the value of financial advice in the wake of the banking Royal Commission, and what to do when releationships break down with regards to superannuation.

Click here to read a PDF copy of the BSC Business Advisors newsletter. If you’d like to sign up, please email Le-Anne Luckman: le-anne@bscbusinessadvisors.com.au

There will be a superannuation amnesty in Australia – for companies that owe money to employees, the ATO have offered a new bill which will grant some help to those who are still behind in paying compulsory super.

Accountants Daily is reporting that the new bill will ‘complement’ the existing superannuation guarantee integrity passage. It will run from 24 May 2018 – 23 May 2019 – allowing companies which owe staff superannuation to pay the money back without any late payment fees or interest rates.

Paul Drum, the head of policy for CPA Australia, told Accountants Daily that he thinks the superannuation amnesty has been carefully planned to fit with the full implementation of Single Touch Payroll (STP) which will commence on July 1, 2018 for companies with 20 or more employees. STP will be mandatory for companies with 19 or less employees starting from July 1 2019.

Drum noted that although it might appear to be an altruistic measure, the government have a very specific plan in place to ensure STP and the SG are monitored closely – with this ostensible olive branch likely to make things very tough for those who are still behind when STP rolls out.

“It’s good and well to say, ‘oh it’s a great opportunity to tidy up’ but the sting in the tail,” said Mr Drum.

“When STP kicks in, the ATO are going to have real-time data and know who is behind in payments and the penalty is enormous for not paying on time so it’s really an olive branch and the calm before the potential storm if people don’t do something about it and get their SG payments in order.”