There’s nothing as certain as death and taxes, but tax on death is not so clear. The good news is that when an asset passes to a beneficiary, capital gains tax (CGT) generally does not apply. But down the track when the beneficiary decides to sell that asset, there are many forks in the path.

Has your company made a tax loss in recent years? If new investors or a major share sale is on the cards, the company may benefit from flexible new rules allowing access to prior losses – the key requirement being that the business carried on, post-equity restructure, is “similar”. Here we look at some practical ATO case studies illustrating when a business is “similar”.

Saving for your first home? In a market where owning your home is increasingly out of reach for many, the First Home Super Saver (FHSS) scheme offers some practical hope. Here we look at how it works.

Got a passive corporate entity that holds an investment property or perhaps plant and equipment? The ATO has confirmed it takes a broad approach to when a company carries on a “business”, which means some company taxpayers may be entitled to business tax concessions they hadn’t previously considered. Find out if your company is affected.

Being a smart taxpayer means knowing what resources are available to you and understanding how the ATO deals with individuals as tax problems arise. Here are three simple things all individuals can do to help keep their tax affairs as stress-free as possible this tax time.

The small business CGT concessions can save businesses some serious tax – and help business owners significantly boost their superannuation – but it’s essential that you keep the right records, particularly for when the time comes to sell. Find out what your business should be doing now to keep the ATO at bay in the future.

The stricter Age Pension assets test came into force more than a year ago, but it is probably only now that the impact of this change is being felt, especially by middle-income wage earners.

To help you prepare for your tax return, here are some tips on the types of claims that are now coming under scrutiny by the ATO, and what you need to do to minimise your chance of being audited.

If you run a “bucket company” as a beneficiary of a family trust you will be interested to hear that a new Bill has been introduced in Parliament that will exclude companies that fail a “passive income test” from the lower corporate tax rate of 27.5 per cent.

Specifically, new laws commencing on 1 July 2019 will prevent an employer from claiming a deduction for payments to employees such as salary, wages, commissions and bonuses.

Are you a business that has had a GST refund held up as a part of the ATO’s risk assessment program to verify GST refunds? The Inspector-General of Taxation (IGT) has recently completed and released his review into ATO’s practice and the findings are surprisingly good for the ATO. Even so, as a part of the review, the IGT made several recommendations to improve the process which the ATO has mostly agreed to.

It's been a little over a year since the dual changes of the pension transfer balance cap and the reduction of tax concessions for transition to retirement pensions were implemented by the government. Recent research has indicated that these changes has achieved their policy outcome by making almost 25% of previously tax-free SMSF assets lose their status and become taxable.