Month: February 2019

Employees : Time and Attendance Platforms

Managing a workforce as an owner and/or manager of any sized business has usually entailed an abundance of administrative tasks, an endless stream of minutiae to achieve the end result of timely and accurate payroll to your workforce. Well, not anymore.

In today’s era of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), software options exist for managers of workforces, large and small, to manage their staff’s time and attendance on the job.

Companies specialising in time and attendance platforms are able to deliver on the promise of automation of manual administration, such as rostering, scheduling, deployment of employees; shift planning; tracking of time spent on a job and attendance in the workplace. All these automated administrative tasks may result in increased cost savings through this ability to reliably measure and manage human labour costs.

Live data and the capability for all employees to have access to a time and attendance platform means a manager can optimise staff on a day-to-day, weekly or monthly basis, making strategic, cost-saving decisions at the touch of a button.

A manager can adjust staffing levels and activity times readily. There is less time spent on contacting individual workers, less time lost chasing absentees and more time for managing the workforce on-the-job.

Employees generally want to work productively and with an automated time and attendance platform, they can be the right employee put in to the right shift and/or on to the right task corresponding to their natural aptitude. This may help to reduce costs as previously, less control was able to be exercised over staffing strategy due to the lack of real-time information.

Human Resources (HR) and Payroll can be linked to a platform, enabling the export of relevant data for those functions to operate smoothly, compliantly and with correct payment of wages and overtime. Meeting a company’s obligations to the ATO becomes far easier with automation of employees’ time and attendance.

Furthermore, growing a business by expansion, opening in another location, is a walk-in-the-park when the administration of doing so doesn’t take double or triple the time.

Managers can instead focus their time and energy on managing the business and their employees, paying more attention to relationships within an organisation for optimal yields.

So stop imagining a brighter future for your business and its employees and start investing in their future – a time and attendance platform, such as Deputy (www.deputy.com) and Tanda (www.tanda.co), is what you need now.

 

How can YML help?

Talk to our YML Innovation Team today to see how YML Group can assist you with your SaaS platforms. Contact us on (02) 8383 4400, or by visiting the Contact Us page on our website.

Small Business Instant Asset Write-Off : NOW up to $25,000

As a small business every opportunity to minimise tax is a significant one, so an increase of the instant asset write-off threshold is welcomed and may be taken up by small businesses to decrease tax payments.

Until recently, the instant asset write-off threshold was $20,000 and was due to revert to $1,000 as of 1 July 2019.

However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison made a speech on 29 January 2019 declaring that the Australian Government would extend the instant asset write-off for another 12 months until 30 June 2020 and he also stated that the threshold would increase (to $25,000) for tax returns lodged from financial year end 2019.

This legislation was introduced in to Parliament on 12 February 2019. It is not yet law.

Is your business eligible to claim this tax benefit?

Small businesses – with an annual turnover of up to $10 million – who have purchased and installed or put in to use an asset that cost up to $25,000 between 29 January 2019 and 30 June 2019 may claim an instant write-off of the business portion of that asset’s purchase cost.

The business portion write-off must be claimed in the business’s tax return for the relevant income year, so claiming an asset purchased for up to $25,000 may be done both this financial year end 2019 and next financial year end 2020.

What happens if the asset cost more than $25,000?

If an asset is purchased at a cost greater than $25,000, it may still be deducted but not immediately; rather, its depreciation cost may be deducted over time, over more than one tax return.

YML Group can help you determine eligibility and assist you with making your tax-deductible claims.

How can YML help?

Talk to our YML Chartered Accountants Team today to see how YML Group can assist you with your tax deductions. Contact us on (02) 8383 4400, or by visiting the Contact Us page on our website.

Working from home: What deductions can you claim?

Technology in the 21st century has broadened the work space for many people. Where an employee puts in additional working hours in their home or where a home office has been set up, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is of the view that not all expense claims made are legitimate deductions.

As an employee performing extra work at home like emailing in the evening, spending a day at home working on a presentation or a few hours at home making phone calls, you may not claim a deduction for occupancy of your home. Items such as rent, property rates and insurance are non-deductible, as are costs related to a mortgage.

However, if you run a home office as your primary place of business, then those occupancy costs may be claimed and you are encouraged to heed professional financial advice about which costs in your particular live/work situation are valid.

Any work conducted at home incurs running costs and running costs such as electricity, cleaning, stationary, office equipment and/or depreciation thereof, as well as phone/internet usage are all deductible expenses. Now, it is highly likely that not all the cost incurred may be claimed. Where there is personal and professional use of an item, only the work-related portion of the total cost is allowed to be claimed.

Expenses Home is principal workplace with dedicated work area Home not principal workplace but has dedicated work area You work at home but no dedicated work area
Running expenses Yes Yes No
Work-related phone & internet expenses Yes Yes Yes
Decline in value of a computer (work related portion) Yes Yes Yes
Decline in value of office equipment Yes Yes No
Occupancy expenses Yes No No
Source: Australian Taxation Office


Determining work-related expenses can be done using the ATO’s home office expenses calculator at https://www.ato.gov.au/calculators-and-tools/home-office-expenses-calculator/

Remember – Keep evidence of your work-from-home expenditure

Potential tax deductions are only claimable with the relevant and accurate proof of usage. Consider keeping such evidence as a detailed phone bill, purchase receipts and/or a diary of actual periods of an item’s usage within the home.

Being aware of what you may and may not claim as a deductible expense is especially prudent, given the ATO’s grasp on the 21st century worker’s flexible working life.

How can YML help?

Talk to our YML Chartered Accountants Team today to see how YML Group can assist you with your work-from-home expense claims. Contact us on (02) 8383 4400 or by visiting the Contact Us page on our website.

BUY / SELL Insurance – What is it and how can it help your business?

It’s important to remember that protecting your business from the ups and downs in the market place isn’t the only protection you need to consider for the long-term health of your business. Your business needs a ‘will’ in place for the times when an owner of the business exits due to death, permanent injury or illness. In this case, a ‘will’ is Buy / Sell insurance, a policy that helps to cover the cost of transferring ownership if such an event occurs.

In the event of one of the owners of a multi-owner business dying or being permanently injured, a business would have lump sum funds available from a Buy / Sell insurance policy to ensure that the exiting owner’s shares might be bought by the remaining owner/s by compensating the family of the exiting owner.

Buy / Sell insurance proceeds could alleviate unpleasant disruptions to the business such as:

Ideally, coupled with Buy / Sell insurance would be a prior written agreement between business owners to determine a fair and equitable payment and that fair and equitable payment be made accessible for a buyout of a family’s shares. Such an agreement could mitigate any quarrelling among the parties and, simultaneously, could avoid any concerns about new ownership entering the business.

Therefore, in the likelihood of a sudden and unexpected departure of a business owner – through death, permanent injury or illness, it is advisable to consider transferring the financial risk associated with extraordinary circumstances to an insurer.

You will need to decide on the ownership structure of the policy, the payment of premiums and how to manage the tax payable on insurance proceeds should you make a claim. Where tax is applicable on premium payments and proceeds received, it is paramount that you seek advice from a professional financial advisor.

YML Group can readily and expertly assist you with preparing a bespoke Buy / Sell insurance package for your business.

How can YML help?

Talk to our YML Financial Advisory Team today to see how YML Group can assist you with Buy / Sell insurance. Contact us on (02) 8383 4400, or by visiting the Contact Us page on our website.

Applying For A Mortgage Is No ‘Walk in the Park’

The Banking Royal Commission commenced in 2017 and APRA’s crackdown on sub-standard lending practices have seen to new lending criteria being used since 1 July 2018, meaning applying for a home loan can feel like too much work for an applicant.

The new rules mean lenders now apply financial checks beyond what has been applied in the past. An applicant can feel scrutinised and even hounded for the depth of information being requested by banks and other lenders.

A lender is required to make sure that an applicant has the debt-servicing capacity to repay a loan at its interest rate within the specified loan term.

In order to have this assurance, applicants may be asked to provide extensive credit history data, including but not limited to: late bill payments, credit card balances, rental payment transaction lists, life and other insurance policy details, as well as disposable income capacity with detailed household budgets.

If a lender can satisfy itself that an applicant has the ability to service a principle + interest loan over the duration of the mortgage period, then a loan may be approved.

What can you do to improve your application?

Mind Your Credit History – As third-party verification of existing assets and liabilities is often required, keeping a record of your credit history is an important action you can take to improve your chances of receiving a loan.

Allow Time – Although many loans are approved relatively quickly and easily, expect to factor in more time for the application process. Allowing enough time to answer questions from a lender and enough time to supply supporting documentation will help to reduce any anxiety about a longer wait for an approval.

Plan Ahead – Realize you need to consider your financial transactions more carefully these days to best avoid impairing your future borrowing plans.

Seek Advice – It can be a long and intrusive process, requiring large amounts of financial information from you. We can help you weather the application process and can help you better understand what it is you need to do.

Everyone is treated equally

Whether you are buying your first home with a small deposit or buying yet another property for a portfolio with millions of dollars at hand, the process of determining a strong application is the same: evidence of financial capacity to repay a loan – taking in to account an applicant’s reasonable and true living expenditure and disposable income.

Stricter Lending, Safer Borrowing

Banks might be a lot stricter about providing a home loan, but ultimately it can lead to a safer path for many home owners. As the interest-only era of home loans phases out, being able to comfortably repay a home loan will be a ‘walk in the park’.

And that’s home sweet home.

How can YML help?

Talk to our YML Finance Team today to see how YML Group can assist you with your mortgage application. Contact us on (02) 8383 4400, or by visiting the Contact Us page on our website.