Cash Relief for Tax Losses
Posted by SP Solutions
Improving access to company losses…. If your business experienced an unprofitable year in a previous year, there was no immediate tax relief until a future profitable income year. Changes made to the treatment of tax losses under the May 2012 Federal Budget will come into effect in the 30th June 2013 Financial Year. This may be a substantial cash flow wind fall for many businesses. Loss Carry Back is a new terminology which means that companies can now use a current year loss against previous profitable income years. This will result in a refund for all, or part, of the [Read More]
Read More...Strategic Planning
Posted by SP Solutions
‘Strategic planning’ is one of those jargon phrases that has lost meaning for most people. You hear it and immediately think of futile exercises with no earthly practical purpose – exercises that keep you from what you need to be doing: running your business. Think of strategic planning as an exciting, energising tool you can use to bring focus, vitality and direction to your business, giving you a map leading straight to success. You need to know where you’re going Visualising what you want in the future is the only way to develop a plan that will allow you to [Read More]
Read More...How to create Business Systems that work
Posted by SP Solutions
Our first step in this process is to understand what business systems actually look like. Most businesses have some sort of procedures lying around the office, such as how to create an invoice! But they exist as a bunch of ad-hoc procedures which end up getting lost, or the wrong version being used. A good business system is far more than a manual and will result in massive increases in your business efficiency. The next steps are to document what your business looks like and all its parts. This involves listing all the key areas of your business. For each [Read More]
Read More...General Year End Tax Planning Strategies
Posted by SP Solutions
A large number of tax changes apply in the 2013/14 income year. If you think any of these changes may affect you, please contact us at SP Solutions on (03) 9355 0500 to discuss In brief, ensure that you have complied with the following requirements to claim deduction in 2012/13, in full, please make an appointment to speak with us: Bad debts Employer and/or self-employed superannuation contributions Depreciation Small businesses (turnover less than $2 million) can claim expenses prepaid Wages paid to your spouse or family members Small businesses planning major purchases or replacements of capital equipment should contact us [Read More]
Read More...Tax Panning Tips: Income Tax Changes – Small Businesses
Posted by SP Solutions
Depreciation and Low Cost Asset Deductions There are significant changes to the timing of deductions for plant & equipment. Items costing less than $6,500 excluding GST are now immediately deductible (up from $1,000). Motor vehicles costing $6,500 or more qualify for an upfront deduction of $5,000 + 15% of the remaining amount. Entrepreneurs Tax Offset Abolished The Entrepreneurs Tax Offset provided a 25% reduction in income tax for small businesses with annual turnover less than $75,000. This has been removed from the 2012/13 income year onwards. If you benefited from this tax offset in previous years, you may have an [Read More]
Read More...Tax Planning Basics. Three Ways to Reduce Your Taxes part 3
Posted by SP Solutions
The goal of tax planning is to arrange your financial affairs so as to minimise your taxes. There are three basic ways to reduce your taxes, and each basic method might have several variations. You can reduce your income, increase your deductions, and take advantage of tax credits. We encourage all business taxpayers to make use of our tax planning service as the tax benefits are worthwhile – A small investment in a tax planning service can result in tax savings that are well in excess of the return on any other investment Take Advantage of Tax Credits. Once you [Read More]
Read More...Tax Planning Basics. 3 Ways to Reduce Your Tax part 2
Posted by SP Solutions
The goal of tax planning is to arrange your financial affairs so as to minimise your taxes. There are three basic ways to reduce your taxes, and each basic method might have several variations. You can reduce your income, increase your deductions, and take advantage of tax credits. We encourage all business taxpayers to make use of our tax planning service as the tax benefits are worthwhile – A small investment in a tax planning service can result in tax savings that are well in excess of the return on any other investment. Increase Your Tax Deductions. Taxable income is [Read More]
Read More...Tax Planning Basics. 3 Ways to Reduce Your Tax part 1
Posted by SP Solutions
The goal of tax planning is to arrange your financial affairs so as to minimise your taxes. There are three basic ways to reduce your taxes, and each basic method might have several variations. You can reduce your income, increase your deductions, and take advantage of tax credits. We encourage all business taxpayers to make use of our tax planning service as the tax benefits are worthwhile – A small investment in a tax planning service can result in tax savings that are well in excess of the return on any other investment. It should be noted that taxation is [Read More]
Read More...Tax Planning Tips: Personal Income, Deductions and Tax Offsets
Posted by Sam Polimeni
Subject to cash flow requirements, set term deposits to mature after 1 July, rather than before 30 June. Consider realising capital losses if you have already realised capital gains on other assets during 2012/13. Conversely, consider realising capital gains if you have unrecouped capital losses, or you expect substantially higher income in 2013/14 compared to 2012/13. If you expect lower income in 2013-14 due to retirement or any other reason, consider deferring income until after 1 July, when you will be in a lower tax bracket. If you are a primary producer and you expect a permanent reduction in income, [Read More]
Read More...How Good Are Your Communication Skills
Posted by SP Solutions
Part of our Business Advisory role to Business Owners is to ensure that your business not only thrives in numbers but also thrives with team spirit, after all its not just you as the owner/director who contributes to your business success, it’s your team who support and assist. We talk to people face to face, and we listen when people talk to us. We write emails and reports, and we read the documents that are sent to us. Communication, therefore, is a process that involves at least two people – a sender and a receiver. For it to be successful, [Read More]
Read More...Why so many small businesses fail
Posted by Sam Polimeni
There’s no such thing as a lazy business owner. Failure never occurs because the owner doesnt work hard or wants the busines to fold. Businesses fail because the owner doesnt have the appropriate knowledge of best practice and never gets past the first level of business ownership, often remaining naive to the rules of business. As a result, their business suffers with mediocre performance in all facets; salary, profits, hours worked and total reliance on the owner. In some ways, business is like agame. If you want to play the game you need to learn the rules. If you want [Read More]
Read More...TEAM: Do You Have the Right People?
Posted by Sam Polimeni
… get the right people on the bus, get the wrong people off the bus, get the right people in the right seats on the bus and then work out where the bus is going.[1] There may be some people in your firm who are not the right people. Maybe it’s an administration person, a supervisor, or even a director. Some people just will not change. However, give them the chance and if counseling, career development, or a good talking to doesn’t work, then do them (and your business) a favour and free up their future. They may be right, [Read More]
Read More...Business Success – do you want it?
Posted by Sam Polimeni
What is success in your business mean to you? For some business owners it may mean to make more money than last year, to others it may mean working less hours, to others it may mean both, and for some it means to create a better, more valuable business. Whatever it is, set a goal to make this year better than last year. Now if you are stuck for new ideas on how to make this happen, consider our ’4 Keys to Business Success Workshops’. Delegates, who master our ‘4 Keys to Business Success Workshops’, will develop the insight, the [Read More]
Read More...Directors’ Penalty Notice
Posted by Sam Polimeni
Directors are to become personally liable for unpaid employee entitlements The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) initiated changes to the Director Penalty Notice (DPN) regime on the 29th June 2012, the intention being to better protect employees’ superannuation entitlements and strengthen director obligations. Under the current DPN regime, if company directors fail to comply with their PAYG withholding obligations they are personally liable to pay amounts withheld. The amendments to the DPN regime are as follows: To expand the DPN to include unpaid Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC); To ensure directors cannot avoid their director penalties by placing their company into administration [Read More]
Read More...Tips on How to Delegate Successfully
Posted by Sam Polimeni
There are several components to successful delegation: 1) Define the task. 2) Give the job to someone who can get it done. 3) Assess ability and training needs. 4) Communicate and explain. 5) State the required results. 6) Consider resources required. 7) Agree on an action plan. 8) Set up a structure for accountability. 9) Agree deadlines. 10) Support and communicate. 11) Get commitment. 12) Provide timely feedback. A good manager delegates successfully when he or she: encourages participation reviews results, not methods shows trust seeks recommendations assigns credit, not blame gives support is consistent. Remember: Delegating a task doesn’t [Read More]
Read More...7 key points to consider when working on your business
Posted by Sam Polimeni
Successful small business entrepreneurs, create a high performance environment when they devote 20% to 100% of their time purely on strategic work, namely – growing the company. 7 key points to consider when working on your business are identifying: How to sell more, How to reach new markets, How to support your sales team, How to support and improve your marketing, How to improve your numbers and performance, How to attract key players to add to your team and; How to attract and use consultants to improve the company’s performance. Successful business owners spend most of their time thinking about the [Read More]
Read More...Pricing. How do you ‘get it right’
Posted by Sam Polimeni
When marketing a product or service, businesses find it difficult to set their prices. Too high, and no-one will buy, too low, everyone will buy, but you will go broke. So how do you set your prices? The basic principle of pricing is that you should set your prices as high as the market will allow. (You may not decide to do this for other marketing reasons such as trying to buy customers, or offering an introductory price to encourage people to try new product or service, but this should be a conscious strategic decision.) When setting their prices, the [Read More]
Read More...What is your bank balance going to be in 6 months from now? Cash Flow.
Posted by Sam Polimeni
Phillip Campbell, author of Never Run out of Cash, created a tool called a ‘Peace of Mind Schedule’ to answer the question: What is your bank balance going to be in 6 months from now? The schedule is simple yet powerful. It is a complete forecast of your monthly cash flow and it’s only two pages long. It is easy to prepare, easy to understand, and easy to maintain. It’s a very good tool for controlling your cash. If you use this tool properly, it will transform the way you manage your business. The key to this tool is to [Read More]
Read More...Why Small Business Stay Small
Posted by Sam Polimeni
Why are there so many small business owners who are not interested in growing? Perhaps it’s because these people don’t know how to grow. With the right information and mentoring, they might jump at the chance to grow their business. Medium-Sized Business VS Small Business Medium-sized business owners (MSBOs) are different to small business owners (SBOs) in many ways. In most cases, medium business operators: have in-house expertise (for non-core activities such as accounting and marketing) have business-builder attitude are likely to seek advice have developed a business plan are more commercially focused than SBOs As a rule, MSBOs have [Read More]
Read More...Case study: The Value of Income Protection Insurance
Posted by Sam Polimeni
Matt is a 35-year old self employed electrical contractor living in Melbourne’s outer suburbs. He is in a business partnership with his wife, Jenny, aged 30, and they have two young children, aged six and four. Matt generates the income whilst Jenny organizes Matt’s work appointments and keeps the books for the business. Matt generates an income of $110,000 after expenses. The couple have a $300,000 home mortgage, for which they pay $2,105 monthly, and a car lease for Matt’s work van, with repayments of $500 per month. On the weekend, Matt plays baseball with his former schoolmates. One Saturday, [Read More]
Read More...
