Financial Planning News
Personal insurance will provide you and your children with a stress-free life
Statistics indicate that the majority of the Australian public are under-insured. These statistics also indicate that in the event of the premature death of a parent, most Australian families would require at least ten years current annual income to ensure their family’s lifestyle could be maintained.
Maximising your share portfolio
When we consider purchasing shares we generally think about capital growth. That is, whether the share price has gone up or conversely, gone down. If you are considering investments that provide steady income, Australian Industrial Shares may be a solution. The Australian Industrial Share price may rise or fall, but generally they continue to pay dividends to shareholders. For example, the dividend return of the S&P/ASX 300 Industrial index was 5.6% for the financial year ending 30 June 2011.
It’s getting harder to negotiate repayment of outstanding tax debt over time with the ATO
Tax debt is the amount of tax incurred during previous financial years that you still owe to the Australian Tax Office (ATO). Debt to the tax office can become increasingly difficult to manage when the ATO enforces its penalties for late payment, thus creating even more debt for you. However, if you undertake the right measures and heed some advice you should be able to avoid these penalties and perhaps even some tax debt.
Capital gains made by trusts
If you receive a distribution from a trust, you may have capital gains tax (CGT) consequences. If the amount by which an asset’s selling price exceeds its initial purchase price. Trusts include managed funds, such as property trusts, share trusts, equity trusts, growth trusts, imputation trusts and balanced trusts.
Have you registered your business name?
A business name is simply a name or title under which a person, or other legal entity, trades. It not only identifies you to your customers, but also allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors and enables your customers to make an emotional connection to your business and brand. For many businesses, the name is often the most valuable asset.
The ATO’s view on borrowing in Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs)
The ATO’s view on Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangements (LRBA) within Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSF’s) has been clarified with the release of the Draft Self Managed Superannuation Funds Ruling (SMSFR 2011/D1) on 14 September 2011.
Think twice before you invest in overseas property!
Investing in overseas property is more risky than investing in property in Australia. It is much more difficult to make sure the investment suits your needs if you don’t have local knowledge and you can’t regularly inspect the property. ASIC has recently received many complaints about promoters who are encouraging Australians to invest in the United States property market.
The Research and Development Tax Incentive can help your business
The Research and development (R&D) tax incentive provides a tax offset for eligible R&D activities and is targeted towards innovation that benefits Australia. The incentive came into effect on 1 July 2011 and replaced the R&D tax concession. There are several objectives to this incentive; it aims to boost competitiveness and improve productivity across the Australian economy, while encouraging industry to conduct R&D that may not otherwise have been conducted. The incentive should also provide business with more predictable, less complex support and improve the incentive for smaller firms to engage in R&D.
Superannuation Changes in the Federal Budget
The 2011 Federal Budget made important changes to superannuation measures that can potentially impact upon the way you manage your employee’s superannuation contributions, as well as your own. You should be aware of these so that you can assist your employees in making decisions related to superannuation.
Opportunity to purchase an investment property through your superannuation fund
With the volatility in the share market over the past three years, many people have decided to take control of their superannuation and invest their superannuation in an investment property as opposed to shares or managed funds.
