Monthly Archives: February 2025

Supporting Marysville Golf Club

It was great to take a friend from the US to Marysville Golf Club yesterday.

Maggs Reid Stewart has been pleased to support the Marysville community since the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009.

Golf and bowls are such wonderful games that one can play well after one has ceased playing all other sports.  Moreover, both supports provide a wonderful social fabric, particularly so in a country town.

Maggs Reid Stewart looks forward to continuing to support the Marysville community by renewing its sponsorship of the Marysville Golf Club.

You can also support Marysville by taking a day trip but, better yet, staying over a weekend.  It is an area of great beauty with plenty of things to see and do with terrific food options (including at the golf club itself with its very pleasant views from the clubhouse).

You can read more by clicking here.

Are you entitled to claim a government grant?

Are you entitled to claim a government grant?  You may be more in luck than you think as there are currently 237 grants and programs available to Victorian businesses.

Government grants and programs can broadly be categorised in two ways:-

  • Those available to support new businesses.
  • Those that target particular industries and activities.

The support is usually financial and can be used for:-

  • Advice and mentoring
  • Funding
  • Loan
  • Sponsorship
  • Subsidies and rebates.
  • Tax benefits

Two of the most well known ones are:-

  • The Export Development and Market Grant – provides at least $20,000 for exporting to existing or new key markets.
  • Research and Development Tax Incentive – provides a tax offset to companies with turnover of less than $20,000,000. The tax offset is the sum of the company’s tax rate (either 25% or 30%) + an additional 18.5%.

The rules to these two grants are quite complex as there are many criteria to consider and pass.

Want to know more?

  • Ask us
  • And go the Australian Government’s Grants and programs finder – click here

February lodgement deadlines

With the Christmas holidays now behind us, we are now back in normal lodgement patterns.  So here are the lodgement deadlines for February.

Deadlines for the month of February 2025 are:-

  • 7th – monthly Pay-roll Tax – January 2025 remuneration
  • 21st – monthly BAS remitters – January 2025 BAS
  • 21st – quarterly BAS lodgers with monthly PAYG Withholding remitter – wages tax for January 2025
  • 28th – quarterly BAS lodgers – December 2024 BAS

It is timely to remind all taxpayers that the ATO has been on the war path of late.

Whist they were friendly (perhaps overly friendly) during covid, the ATO is now actively chasing unlodged documents and moreover aggressively chasing tax debts.

It is also no longer easy to have late lodgement penalties and interest removed (no matter what the cause reason is).

And it is recounted by many fellow accountants that the ATO continues to issue Director Penalty Notices (DPNs) at an alarming rate.  DPNs are issued where GST, PAYG Withholding or SG super remains unreported and unpaid after 3 months.  A DPN makes a director(s) responsible for that debt.  Options are limited and require prompt action – and if not paid or otherwise dealt within 30 days, a director will be left being personally responsible for that debt.  This could mean bankruptcy.

You can read more about unpaid super here

I have also heard of where a director’s address as recorded with ASIC is out of date.  The problem then is the ATO will mail the DPN notice to the address as recorded with ASIC.  So apparently some directors have been unaware one was even issued.

There is also an issue that the 30 day countdown starts from the time the ATO issues a letter.  The problem is that it may take 6 days to be received.

TIP      Advise us as soon as you change address.  In any case there is a 28 reporting deadline for reporting a change of director’s details to ASIC.

TIP      Don’t fall for the mistake of not lodging or paying a BAS or SG super whatever the reason.  In the first instance you will avoid late lodgement fines.  Secondly, you can always enter a payment plan if necessary.