Accurately assessing payroll taxes and then successfully filling out all the associated paperwork can be a confusing and convoluted process for many business owners. Whether you’re an employer operating as either a company, a partnership, or even as a sole trader, taking care of your business’s payroll tax is most certainly an incredibly time-consuming process.
In addition to all the already existing paperwork, payroll taxes serve as one of the most finicky aspects of any business’s administrative duties – no matter its industry or professional sector.
Thanks to years of experience in providing Australians with taxation advice, Tobin Partners is the place to go for help and assistance with payroll tax. With a whole host of services on offer – even indirect tax consultancy services – our team is proud to work towards minimising your business taxes.
Get in touch with Peter to discuss your payroll tax needs and specific situation.
Before starting your business it is important you obtain specialist advice on the best way of setting up your business to minimise tax. The advice you might obtain would include whether you should operate as a sole trader, partnership or company. Most of the advice you will receive will be focused on income tax minimisation.
However, payroll tax can be a serious financial burden on a business. Strangely, governments promote the need for businesses to hire more employees. Governments talk about the importance of expanding business to provide more job opportunities. However, governments say very little about businesses facting the risk of paying more payroll tax for hiring more employees. In Australia, once your wages exceed the threshold, you can pay up to 6.85% of your employees’ wages in payroll tax depending on where your employees work in Australia. This is on top of all the other taxes you are already paying.
Fortunately, we can provide you with legal advice on the best way of structuring your business to reduce your payroll tax.
If you have already been in business for a while and have been advised by your accountant that you must start paying payroll tax because you are over your state’s threshold, then it is time you talk to us.
Use our Payroll Tax Calculator to estimate your tax and view the rates and thresholds for each state or territory.
Who wants to pay more tax than they have to? Give Peter Tobin a call 0438 001 809.
Trusts, particularly discretionary trusts, are widely used throughout Australia and New Zealand for both investment purposes and operating a business.
There are many advantages of using trusts including:
The person who controls the trust does not have to be a trustee or a director of a corporate trustee or even one of the beneficiaries of the trust.
Trust are a great tool which can be utilised to minimise taxes such as land tax as well as having a distinct advantage in planning succession strategies and asset protection.
Who wants to pay more tax than they have to? Give Peter Tobin a call on 0438 001 809.
Payroll tax grouping provisions could see your business’s payroll tax obligations extend to all businesses you have a stake in. The combined sum of all employee wages, salaries and benefits are then taxable at the combined amount of all your businesses.
Where two or more businesses are grouped, only one of them is entitled to the benefit of the threshold amount. Under the payroll tax provisions, all group members are required to pay payroll taxes as though they were under a single employer.
If you believe your businesses have been grouped there are some provisions of the Payroll Tax Act that may allow you to apply for an exemption and be ‘de-grouped’. For advice and guidance in your unique circumstances, please contact the team at Tobin Partners.
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Payroll tax grouping provisions: unbelievable far-reaching effects
Because the grouping provisions of the Payroll Tax Act are so wide and arbitrary the legislature has given the Commissioner of State Revenue discretion to de-group businesses that might otherwise be grouped for payroll tax. Unsurprisingly this is not a discretion the Commissioner likes to use, but with our assistance, we think you have a better chance of convincing the Office of State Revenue to exercise its discretion.
Division 7A has been a potential problem for companies and its shareholders and associates since it was first introduced over 15 years ago and for Trusts and its company beneficiaries since the Commissioner issued Tax Ruling 2010/3.
Broadly, Division 7A of the Income Tax Act 1936 treats all advances, loans and other credits (unless they come within specified exclusions) by private companies to shareholders (and their associates), as assessable unfranked dividends to the extent that a distributable surplus exists in the company.
The Division treats three kinds of amounts as dividends paid by a private company:
If you are a foreign investor looking to invest in Australia, especially in regard to purchasing property, we can offer you solutions, which will assist you with purchases, whether or not you hold a visa.
The Australian Government readily acknowledges that foreign investment has greatly helped to build Australia’s economy and welcomes foreign investment.
We welcome your enquiry for foreign investment advice.
Two or more businesses may be grouped for payroll tax where:
If they are companies, they are related to each other such as one is a subsidiary or holding company of the other;
They share common employees;
They are controlled by one or more persons whether as directors or shareholders
The businesses pay more in payroll tax where they are grouped because only one of the businesses is allowed to claim the threshold. Where the businesses are not grouped, they can each claim the threshold amount for payroll tax.
Yes, any member of the group can make an application for exclusion from the group (also known as a de-grouping application). However, you must demonstrate that the business is independent of and is not connected with the carrying on of the business by any other member of the group. It’s not sufficient to say that the businesses are completely different types of businesses such as a service station and a child-care centre. It is more complex than that. Equally, it is possible to succeed on a de-grouping application even though both businesses are in the same type of business such as the restaurant business.
I have chosen my words carefully for this heading because most people who come to me for advice after they’ve been caught out by the grouping provisions can’t believe the grouping provisions’ far-reaching and alarming effects. Where two or more
Payroll Tax Calculator Payroll Tax Rates and Thresholds Payroll tax in Australia is a State or Territory based tax on “salaries and wages”, the employer is liable to pay this tax. Some businesses in Australia are not required to pay
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