EOFY DEADLINES

The end of another financial year is upon us. Please take note of the following deadlines regarding your accounts to 30^th June 2016:

PAYG Payment Summaries

If you have employees, PAYG Payment Summaries must be issued to staff by Thursday 14^th July, and the PAYG Payment Summary Annual Report is due to be lodged with the ATO by Monday 15^th August.

Superannuation

Superannuation contributions for the period ending 30^th June 2016must be received by the relevant fund(s) on or before Thursday 28^th July. If they are not received by this date you may be liable to pay interest and penalties on top of the superannuation you contribute. In addition, if you don’t pay by the due date you will lose the tax deduction you would normally get for superannuation, because late super payments and associated penalties are not tax deductible.

Remember that if you use a clearing house (including via your accounting software), then you should allow several business days for the clearing house to process your contributions.

Business Activity Statements

• If you are on a monthly reporting cycle, your June BAS is due to be lodged and paid no later than Thursday 21^st July.
• If you are on a quarterly reporting cycle and you lodge your BAS yourself, the deadline for lodgement and payment is Thursday 28^th July (for paper lodgements) or Thursday 11^th August (for online lodgements).
• If you are on a quarterly reporting cycle and your BAS is lodged by BASic Bookkeepers or your accountant, the deadline for lodgement is Thursday 25^th August.

Taxable Payments Annual Report

If your business is in the building and construction industry, you will need to report on contractor payments by lodging a Taxable Payments Annual Report to the ATO by Monday 29^th August. Note: all businesses in the building and construction industry need to report- if no contractor payments have been made this financial year, a nil lodgement is required.

Not sure if you’re in the building and construction industry? Find out more here: https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Building-and-construction/In-detail/Taxable-payments-reporting/Taxable-payments-reporting—building-and-construction-industry/?page=12

Payroll Tax Annual Reconciliation

For those required to pay payroll tax, your annual reconciliation is due to be lodged with the relevant state revenue office by Thursday 21^st July.

The 2015/16 payroll tax threshold for NSW is $750,000, though rates vary from state to state. If you employ staff interstate and/or you’re not sure whether or where you need to lodge a payroll tax return, please check with your bookkeeper.

HELP US TO HELP YOU

Meeting Deadlines

End of financial year is an incredibly busy time for us here at BB. Please help us to help you by providing information and answering queries as soon as possible. While we make every effort to ensure deadlines are met, we cannot guarantee on-time lodgement if information isn’t provided in a timely manner.

Yes, We Really Do Need Your Bank Statements

Many accounting packages now offer bank feeds, whereby bank statement data is automatically imported into your accounting software.

Unfortunately, bank feeds are not 100% accurate. Duplicate statement lines or omissions do occur. Users can also cause errors by manually adding or deleting transactions.

To ensure accuracy, we need to sight statements provided by your financial institution. This is a legal requirement.

KEY CHANGES FROM 1^ST JULY 2016

Minimum Wage Increases

The Fair Work Commission has announced a 2.4% increase to minimum wages. The increase will apply from the first full pay period starting on or after 1^st July 2016. It will affect the national minimum wage, as well as award-based pay rates and allowances, and some registered agreements.

If you have staff who are paid on or close to the minimum wage, be sure to check the award(s) relevant to your business, and implement any changes necessary. You can access the full list of Modern Awards at www.fairwork.gov.au/awards/a-z-modern-awards-list/.

SuperStream

All businesses must be SuperStream compliant by 30^th June 2016. This means you must be making contributions electronically in an approved format, normally via a super clearing house or through your accounting/payroll software.

If you’re not sure whether your business is compliant, please speak to your bookkeeper or call our head office on 1300 852 575 for advice. For most small businesses, becoming compliant is quick, easy and free!

You can find more information at https://www.ato.gov.au/Super/SuperStream/Employers/.

OTHER THINGS TO DO AND THINK ABOUT AT EOFY

Now is the time to tidy up your accounts, review your 2016 results, and plan for the year ahead.

Many small business owners find the grind of daily commitments overwhelms their efforts to take a step back and consider the bigger picture. But this is a critical part of business success! Before the end of financial year, take a moment to:

• Talk to your accountant, and make sure you take advantage of all relevant tax deductions before EOFY. These might include:
  • Purchasing assets
  • Prepaying rent or other expenses
  • Writing off bad debts
  • Writing off obsolete or non-existent inventory
  • Claiming motor vehicle or home-office expenses
  • Taking up additional wages or superannuation
• If you hold inventory, perform a stocktake on June 30^th. Performing a stock take will allow you to write off obsolete stock, investigate shrinkage, and identify slow moving and low margin items.
• Review your trade debtors (outstanding sales invoices). Follow up overdue accounts, and write off anything you don’t reasonably expect to recover.
• Review your profit and loss for the year. Consider your major cost categories and whether you can get better rates by renegotiating contracts or switching suppliers. Review your supplier payment terms and consider whether you might get better rates by bulk buying or prepaying, or if securing longer payment terms might improve your cash flow. Review your bank loans, leases, credit cards and finance agreements.
• Review your HR policies, payroll system and employment agreements: are your pay rates above the minimum required under the relevant award(s)? Are your employment agreements compliant with current workplace law? Have you considered incentive-based pay arrangements, for example commissions or bonuses? Do you have systems in place to provide feedback to staff?
• Review your insurances and consider whether you have an appropriate level of cover for all aspects of your business operations. Consider new and changing risks in your field, for example the growing need for cyber insurance; consider changing business operations such as new office or warehouse locations, new modes of transport, new types of IP; consider the growth or decline in your business and whether your level of insurance needs to be adjusted accordingly.
• Review and compare your financial performance: compare this year’s results to last year’s; compare your actual results to your budget; compare your business against industry benchmarks. Set a budget for next year. Set sales and profit targets for next year. Perform a break-even analysis to work out what level of turnover you will need to reach your profit target.

We know being a business owner is a hectic role, but spending some solid time reviewing your finances and planning for the future will pay dividends. If you feel you don’t have time or you’re not sure where to start, talk to us about how we can help.