July 2009

ESV welcomes a new partner

The Partners are pleased to announce that Peter Muscolino was appointed as an Einfeld Symonds Vince Partner on 1 July 2009. click here for more details

Bamford decision and appeal

The Full Federal Court handed down a decision in June which shed some light on two major issues affecting trusts. click here for more details

New tax rates and thresholds from 1 July 2009

The new Individual Resident tax rates and thresholds applying from 1 July 2009 are:

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is continuing its work-related expenses program providing guidance to people on what they can claim in their 2009 returns. click here for more details

Employee share acquisition schemes

Budget changes announced in May 2009 have caused sufficient uncertainty over employee share acquisition schemes (“ESAS”) for many major companies to put their schemes into hibernation. click here for more details

Taxpayer Alerts: Inappropriate loss schemes

The ATO is closely reviewing a number of arrangements that attempt to falsely generate claims for inappropriate tax losses. These are generally organised tax minimisation schemes and we do not encourage our clients to participate. click here for more details

Rewrite of New Zealand double tax agreement

On 26 June 2009, Simon Crean signed a new tax treaty between Australia and New Zealand in Paris to replace the existing treaty and amending protocol. click here for more details

Tax Office Benchmarking

As previously reported in this alert, the Tax Office is developing a range of Business performance benchmarks to complement its Industry Input Benchmarks. click here for more details

Cash-strapped small business – Help from the ATO

The ATO has announced new measures to help small businesses that are struggling to manage their tax debts in the current economic climate. click here for more details

 

Super guarantee 2009/10: Maximum superannuation contribution base

Many employers do not realise that they are not required to pay the 9% superannuation guarantee charge for the excess salary paid over the maximum superannuation contribution base. The maximum superannuation contribution base for each quarter in the 2009/10 year is $40,170.  This means that you do not need to contribute more than $3,616 per quarter for any one employee unless you have a private arrangement, such as packaging, to do so.

CGT improvement threshold

For the 2009/10 income year, the improvement threshold, which is used for working out when a capital improvement to a pre-CGT asset is a separate asset, and for capital improvements to CGT assets where a rollover may be available, is $124,258.

ESV walking the walk

Einfeld Symonds Vince has, once again, entered a team in the Oxfam 100km Trailwalker Challenge on 29-30 August 2009. Our team is made up of participants and supporters with the twin goals of:

• getting all four participants to the finish of a 100km walk together through the bush in under 48 hours, and
• raising at least $8,000 for Oxfam.

The Challenge requires endurance and teamwork from both participants and supporters. You can sponsor our team, the ESV Grasscutters (Team No 34) through the Oxfam website 
http://www2.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/sydney/team/34

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The information in this newsletter is quite general in nature and anyone intending to apply it practically to their own circumstances should seek professional advice to verify it’s individual applicability. 

If you have any queries regarding the information contained in this
update please do not hesitate to contact us.

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