Hobby or Business? You may not think you are running a business from your hobby or side hustle. However, if you start earning income from these activities regularly, you may be carrying on a business. Generally, carrying on a business involves ongoing and repeated activities with the intention of making a profit. These activities can include: regularly providing goods or services; obtaining and maintaining any necessary licences or permits; and/or keeping records of their work. However, you may not be operating a business where: Your transactions are one-off You do not intend making a profit You work as an employee rather than independently FBT Changes for Hybrid cars The ATO has updated its guidelines to include a new method to make it easier to calculate PHEV electricity costs when a vehicle is charged at an employee's home. To use the shortcut home-charging rate, employers and other individual taxpayers must meet the relevant eligibility requirements or they can still choose to calculate the actual electricity costs instead of using this optional method. Since 1 April 2025, PHEVs are not considered a zero or low emissions vehicle under FBT law and no longer qualify as exempt. Employers that provide PHEVs to their employees for private use, or that have PHEVs that are available for private use, may now have FBT obligations for the 2025/26 FBT year, subject to transitional arrangements. Do you need a new Logbook? You can keep the same logbook for your car for five years, but there are circumstances where you may need a new logbook. Relying on a logbook that no longer represents your work-related travel may result in them claiming more, or less, than you are entitled to. A new logbook may be required when a taxpayer: moves to a new house or workplace has changes to the pattern of use of the car for work purposes Taxpayers using the logbook method for two or more cars need to keep a logbook for each car and make sure they cover the same period. If you purchase a new car during the income year and want to continue relying on their previous car's logbook must make a nomination in writing. The nomination must be made before they lodge their tax return and state that you are replacing your original car with a new car; and that the date that nomination takes effect. If your employer provides you with a car or you salary sacrifice a car using a novated lease, you are not entitled to claim work-related car expenses using the logbook or cents per kilometre method. When claiming car expenses using the logbook method, you also need to keep various types of other records, including odometer records for the start and end of the period you own the car, proof of purchase price, decline in value calculations, and fuel and oil receipts. Reminder for March 2026 Superannuation Obligations Employers are reminded that employee super contributions for the quarter ending 31 March 2026 must be received by the relevant super funds by Tuesday, 28 April 2026. If the correct amount of SG is not paid by an employer on time, they will be liable to pay the SG charge, which includes a penalty and interest component. Reminder for Taxable payments annual report Businesses who pay contractors may need to lodge a 'Taxable payments annual report' by 28 August each year. This includes businesses paying contractors in the building and construction, cleaning and IT industries and certain other industries. The ATO will apply penalties to businesses that have not lodged their TPAR from 2025 or previous years, and/or that have been issued three reminder letters about their overdue TPAR. If you do not need to lodge a TPAR, you can submit a 'non-lodgment advice form'. Businesses that no longer pay contractors can also use this form to let the ATO know that they will not need to lodge a TPAR in the future. Expenses incurred to obtain employment were non-deductible The Administrative Review Tribunal recently held that medical expenses incurred by a taxpayer to obtain employment were not deductible as they were not incurred in gaining or producing his assessable income. The taxpayer was an airplane pilot. In July 2021, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority advised the taxpayer of the steps that he needed to take to regain the medical certificates that were a prerequisite to him holding a licence to work as a pilot. The taxpayer incurred expenses relating to this between July 2021 and May 2022, and he claimed a deduction for these expenses in his tax return for the 2022 income year. The ATO disallowed these deductions, and the ART affirmed the ATO's decision. The expenses were not deductible because they were incurred to put the taxpayer in a position to earn income i.e., to regain his certification, rather than in the course of earning that income, and they were therefore incurred too soon. The information provided in this Newsletter is general in nature and if you have any queries or require further information or assistance with the above, please contact our office.

$20,000 instant asset write-off is extended Small business instant asset write off is extend to 30 June 2026. If a business has an aggregated annual turnover of less than $10 million, they may be able to use the instant asset write-off to immediately deduct the business portion of the cost of eligible assets that are $20,000. Eligible assets must be first used between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026. The $20,000 limit is per asset. Cash in hand sales The ATO is cracking down on businesses that use cash to avoid paying tax, employer and business obligations. Some examples of such situations are: Failure to report all sales Failure to pay GST, income tax, PAYG withholding, super guarantee, insurance and work cover Reporting income below $75,000 to avoid GST registration Failure to meet employment awards and work cover Workers who are paid cash-in-hand risk losing their entitlements and if they are injured at work, they may not be protected. Contractors income Data matching records indicate some contractors are incorrectly reporting or omitting income. Contractors need to report all their income in their tax return, including payments made by businesses for their contracting work. Note that, as part of the taxable payments reporting system, businesses in some industries must lodge a Taxable payments annual report to report contractor payments for providing the following services: Building and construction; Courier; Cleaning; Information technology; Road freight; and Security, investigation or surveillance. Contractors who provide the above services must note that the businesses they contract to report their payments to the ATO on their TPAR. Contractors must then report their income in their tax returns to avoid data matching discrepancies. If the ATO suspects a contractor may have omitted TPRS income on their tax return, it may contact them to request they amend their tax return. If the contractor does not take action, the ATO may conduct a review and audit of their business, and penalties and interest may apply. Government payments programs The ATO is reminding taxpayers that receive government payments for delivering services under a Commonwealth program, such as healthcare, disability support or child care, that they have an obligation to: Keep accurate records; and Report any such income they receive in their tax return. The ATO recently advised that it would be contacting taxpayers and tax agents in February by email to ensure that income received from government agencies such as the Aged Care Subsidy or under the National Disability Insurance Scheme is reported correctly in their tax returns. The ATO has updated its Government Payments Program data-matching program protocol to better detect non-compliance, and work more effectively with other government entities. Work-related expense claims rejected by ART  The Administrative Review Tribunal recently disallowed a taxpayer's claims for many different types of work-related expenses. The taxpayer was employed full-time as an engineer, working from home two days a week. For the 2023 income year, he claimed deductions totalling over $61,000, in relation to car expenses, travel expenses, clothing expenses, and home office expenses, all of which he claimed were work-related. The ATO largely disallowed these deductions, and the ART affirmed the ATO's decision, primarily due to problems with substantiating these claims. For example, in relation to the car expenses, the ART noted that none of the log books were contemporaneous, and the log book entries were inconsistent with independent records. In relation to travel expenses, the ART noted that the taxpayer did not provide evidence clearly identifying which travel expenses had been reimbursed by his employer, and the ride share documentation did not include the date, time or destination of travel. In relation to home office utility expenses, the ART noted that the taxpayer only provided calculations estimating the business use proportion of those expenses, without providing any documentary evidence to substantiate the expenses. The information provided in this Newsletter is general in nature and if you have any queries or require further information or assistance with the above, please contact our office.

Cash acceptance is mandated for essential purchases From 1 January 2026, food and grocery retailers must accept cash for in-person transactions of $500 or less between 7am and 9pm. Small businesses with aggregate annual turnover under $10 million are generally exempted from the mandate. However, this mandate still applies to small businesses that share a trademark with a large retailer. The Government noted that, in addition to the cash mandate for fuel and groceries, consumers also already have the option to pay their bills, including utilities, phone bills and council rates, in cash at their local Australia Post outlet through Post Billpay. The Government will review this mandate after three years, to ensure it is functioning as intended. ATO child support data-matching program ATO will acquire child support data from Services Australia for the 2025 to 2027 income years, including the following: The ATO estimates that records relating to up to 300,000 individuals will be obtained each financial year, which will be matched against ATO records. The objectives of this program are to: allow Services Australia to more accurately assess child support obligations, and maximise opportunities to collect child support debts; and identify and educate individuals who may be failing to meet their lodgment obligations and help them to finalise their lodgment obligations, or notify the ATO that an income tax return is not required. Paying super guarantee Employers need to pay a minimum of 12% of each employee's ordinary time earnings into a complying super fund on a quarterly basis (the due date for the March 2026 quarter is 28 April 2026). In most cases, employees can choose the super fund. Employers who do not pay in full, on time or to the correct super fund will have to pay the SG charge, which is made up of the super they owe, nominal interest on those amounts (currently 10%), and an administration fee of $20 per employee, per quarter. These payments must be made through SuperStream. Small Business Superannuation Clearing House service will be permanently closed from 1 July 2026. Existing users should switch to an alternative method to pay their employees' super guarantee. When new employees start, employers must comply with the 'choice of fund rules' if the new employee does not choose a super fund. Employers may now need to request the new employee's 'stapled super fund' details from the ATO. Time limits on GST and fuel tax credit claims GST credits and fuel tax credits will expire if not claimed within the 4-year credit time limit (generally four years from the due date of the original BAS in which the taxpayer could have claimed them). Once credits expire, the ATO has no discretion or ability to amend the assessment to include those credits. There may be situations where the ATO is able to amend for overpaid or underpaid GST or overclaimed credits, but additional credits cannot be included in an amendment assessment. If credits are near expiry, taxpayers should consider: claiming the credits in their next BAS that is still within the 4-year credit time limit; requesting the amendment by lodging a revised BAS for the tax period to which the credits are attributable; or lodging a valid objection against their assessment for the period to which the GST credits are attributable before the end of the 4-year credit time limit. Departure Prohibition Orders for overdue tax debts The ATO is actively using departure prohibition orders as part of a broader shift towards debt collection. A DPO is an enforcement action available to the ATO to prevent certain persons with tax liabilities from leaving Australia without paying their outstanding tax. Since July 2025, the ATO has issued 21 DPOs, more than the total number issued in the entire financial year ended 30 June 2025. The ATO notes that a taxpayer was recently prevented from boarding a flight in the early hours of the morning due to a DPO imposed because of deliberate non-payment of a significant debt. The dog breeding activities treated as an enterprise The ART recently held that a taxpayer had carried on an enterprise of dog breeding for GST purposes. He had lodged activity statements for the quarters ended 30 September 2018 to 31 December 2021 inclusive, claiming input tax credits for the dog breeding activities he carried on from his home. The ATO disallowed the taxpayer's claims for the above periods, arguing that enterprises were not carried on, and that there was a lack of appropriate substantiation. The ART however held that the taxpayer's dog breeding operation was an enterprise for GST purposes, noting that his activities had "the necessary commercial character." Therefore, the taxpayer was entitled to ITCs for that enterprise. However, the ART affirmed the ATO's decision to reduce the taxpayer's other ITC claims, such as in relation to stamp duty on the acquisition of a property and for café and grocery expenses. The ART also admonished the taxpayer for apparently using artificial intelligence in the presentation of his case, as he appeared to rely on cases and principles that did not exist. The information provided in this Newsletter is general in nature and if you have any queries or require further information or assistance with the above, please contact our office.