Monthly Archives: July 2016

PAYG Withholding Rate tables

For those of you who need to access PAYG Withholding Rate tables, we now have an easier option for you in that our new firm app links directly to the ATO’s very useful PAYG WH (wages tax) calculator.

I take this opportunity to remind you that PAYG Payment Summaries were due to be issued to employees by 14th July and that copies of those Payment Summaries as well as the PAYG Summary Statement are to be sent to the Tax Office by 14th August.  Please ensure you keep a copy of those documents.  However, employers that employ only family members have until the date of lodging their 2016 Tax Return to lodge their payment summary stationery (provided they have a good lodgement record).

I also take this opportunity to remind you that the Superannuation Guarantee rate remains at 9.5%.

Even if you have tax tables within your software, we remind you download our firm app which has many useful tools and calculators. It is designed to be on your front screen from where you can undertake any number of business activities and to attend to your tax affairs.  Tell your family, friends and business colleagues about it as there the app has many uses for everyone.

Please do not hesitate to call us if you have any queries in relation to the above or require any assistance in loading a new tax table into your software.

At MRS, we will spend today planning for your success tomorrow.

An app for your log book

The one thing that clients complain about most is having to prepare a log book. This became even more important in the last financial year with the removal of two of what were once four methods of claiming a motor vehicle.  We can now make that task easier as we have an App for your log book.

Our firms App has been just published in the Play Store and iTunes.

Simply search on Maggs Reid and at the top list you should see our logo, Maggs Reid Stewart and Digital Disruption Solutions.  Simply download the app, go to the ATO button which will then let you run a log book by using Google maps.  It cannot be made any easier.  And it’s one of the main reasons we decided to publish our own App.

Although more content is still to be published, the App is already full of really useful tools, calculators and information.

As have we advised in newsletters and blogs, one can now only claim a car under the log book method or cents per kilometre method. You either have a complying log book or you don’t.  The problem is if you don’t, your maximum claim under the cents per kilometre method is limited to $3,300.   So download that app!

At MRS, we will spend today planning for your success tomorrow.

 

Year end processing tips

We are accountants because we like being accountants. But I can assure you that we gain no joy from fixing fundamental book-keeping tasks, particularly when the result is our fees being higher than what they should otherwise be.  We therefore provide you with the following year end processing tips.

You can make our life more enjoyable and reduce your accounting fees by attending to the following accounting tasks before inviting us to work on your file:-

  • Reconcile all bank accounts, loans and credit cards.
  • Investigate any reconciling items.
  • Reconcile payroll before issuing any payment summaries.
  • Count and value stock.
  • Review last year’s depreciation schedule and advise us what has been sold or scrapped.
  • And the most time consuming one – do not change a period’s figures if we have lodged a Tax Return or BAS for that period. If you need to change an old debtor or creditor balance or make some other change then please call us and we will happily either (1) advise you how to correct the item, (2) use Logmein to make the adjustment and/or show you how to make the adjustment without affecting the prior period, or (3) easier yet, we will log into your cloud accounting system and make the change the correct way.

You can also find how to guides for MYOB, Reckon, QuickBooks Online and Xero at:-

 

MYOB

http://help.myob.com/wiki/display/ar/Closing+a+financial+year

 

RECKON

http://kb.reckon.com.au/issue_view.asp?ID=4155

 

QUICKBOOKS ONLINE

http://www.intuit.com.au/r/product-updates/end-financial-year-using-quickbooks-online/

 

XERO

https://help.xero.com/au/Q_YearEnd

 

At MRS, we will spend today planning for your success tomorrow.

 

 

 

Super Stream tips

Some employers may think it is another compliance burden. What it is though is a streamlined system – and many experienced book-keepers that I have spoken to have been glowing in their stories about the great time savings even in these early stages.  Thankfully, gone are the days where an employer with 18 employees can be paying separately into 8, 10 or even 18 different funds – now they have just one reporting and payment process.  As some are still to register, here are some Super Stream tips.

  1. You can use either your payroll software, a clearing house or one of the large super funds.
  2. I would avoid using the large super funds and anything but the ATO’s clearing house as their processing times can be as long as 10 business days – which means to meet the deadline of the 28th day after quarter end, some will have to report and contribute two weeks beforehand.
  3. The ATO provides a free clearing house for those employers with less than 20 employees. Not only is it a free service but contributions made to this clearing house are treated as being made on the day they are made to the clearing house (as it is an approved clearing house).
  4. It is called the Small Business Super Clearing House (SBSCH). You can register for it at – https://www.ato.gov.au/business/super-for-employers/paying-super-contributions/small-business-superannuation-clearing-house/#
  5. To register, you will a number of items at your fingertips.
  6. Apparently the registration works best when done in Chrome.
  7. Employers have since 2005 been required to provide their employees with choice of super fund (and which nominates a default super fund if the employee does not exercise their choice). An old form though will not have some information that you will need to complete the registration and make payment.
  8. You will need the USI (Unique Superannuation Identifier) and ABN of each super fund.
  9. You need every employee’s TFN and their super fund member number.
  10. You can get the USI from your employee’s last member’s statement, by ringing the fund or checking a USI register which you can find at http://superfundlookup.gov.au/DownloadUsiList.aspx
  11. If an employee nominates their complying self managed super fund, then they will need to provide you with its electronic service address.
  12. Please be very careful when selecting the fund when setting up your clearing account as payment to the wrong fund will mean you still have to pay the correct fund. The registration will bring up the name of the selected fund but as many names are very similar, please ensure you select the right one.
  13. You will be asked for your banking account details in case there is a refund to be paid back.
  14. You will still need to make payment by EFT or BPay; payment will not be automatically deducted from your nominated bank account.
  15. Please note that you will be issued with a different account number to pay into for each entity.  To avoid paying into the wrong account and having the payment returned, you will need to give each SBCH bank account a different name within internet banking.
  16. It is a legal requirement that you send the payment and message on the same day – so don’t do it at 5 minutes to 6pm and then miss the banking cut-off.

Please don’t hesitate to ask us any questions you may have.

You may also like to watch the ATO’s video (but don’t panic s it was published before the October extension was announced).

At MRS, we will spend today planning for your success tomorrow.

 

Lencioni’s 4 meeting secrets

I just enjoyed a week’s break with my family. Plenty of catch up sleep after June and playing games as well as sports & activities with my family.  The warmer weather was also a welcome change.

Holidays are also a time I enjoy for the chance to read.  I almost finished a fourth book – and yes some of them were on the short side. A common problem with too many business books are that they are overly long.  They might have a good idea or two but spend too long conveying them.

Patrick Lencioni’s books are a welcome exception to this common fault. They are easily read in that they are page turning fables built around a central theme.  Moreover, they conclude with an excellent summary with free tools to access.

During the holiday I read one of his older books Death By Meeting.  Lencioni proposes that there should be four types of meetings:-

  1. The daily check in. It’s nothing more than a 5 minute meeting about what is to happen that day. Everyone is to attend.
  2. The weekly tactical. This is a structured meeting focused on short term tactical issues. Lencioni recommends that it starts with everyone indicating their priorities for the week before reporting on KPI’s. Only then is the agenda set to address what has come to light as the most important issues. This meeting addresses what people are doing now.
  3. The monthly strategic. This meeting is only for the executives in which they analyse, debate and decide upon a few (and only a few) critical issues that matter most to the business.
  4. The quarterly off-site review. Lencioni contends that spouses should not attend, its best to be close to home to minimise time losses and should only be run by an outside facilitator who is both known and trusted by the participants.

Obviously many businesses may be too small to be to run all of these. But may be for those single operators, it is simply a matter of setting aside time every day or week to sit, think and plan.

I commend this book to you as well as Getting Naked, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and one of his newest ones The Advantage. And like any good business book, don’t read them before going to bed if you want to sleep!

For more free tips, why not visit the weekly blog section at http://mrsaccountants.productivation.com.au.  And from later this month you can visit our app which will be full of useful tools and calculators!

At MRS, we will spend today planning for your success tomorrow.