21 October 2024

• Pay annual PAYG instalment notice (Form N). Lodge only if you vary the instalment amount or use the rate method to calculate the instalment.
• Lodge and pay quarter 1, 2024–25 PAYG instalment activity statement for head companies of consolidated groups.
• Lodge and pay September 2024 monthly business activity statement.

28 October 2024

• Lodge and pay quarter 1, 2024–25 activity statement if electing to receive and lodge by paper and not an active STP reporter. Pay quarter 1, 2024–25 instalment notice (form R, S, or T). Lodge the notice only if you vary the instalment amount.
• Lodge and pay annual activity statement for TFN withholding for closely held trusts where a trustee withheld amounts from payments to beneficiaries during the 2023–24 income year.

31 October 2024

• Lodge tax returns for all entities if one or more prior year returns were outstanding as at 30 June 2024.

21 November 2024

• Lodge and pay October 2024 monthly business activity statement.

25 November 2024

• Lodge and pay quarter 1, 2024–25 activity statement if you lodge electronically.

The new financial year has started, and we are still having conversations with business owners regarding some of these changes.  As a reminder, we have included the following changes to ensure you have not overlooked any:

Single Touch Payroll Finalisation

• Ensure your Single Touch Payroll (STP) finalisation declaration for 2023-24 is correct and has been submitted to the ATO.
• STP finalisation declarations should be made immediately if not already done (extensions can apply for closely held employees).
• Include Reportable Fringe Benefits Amounts (RFBA) for employees of more than $2,000 in STP finalisation.
• Employees will be able to access their Income Statement through their MyGov Account after STP finalisation is complete.

Superannuation Guarantee Rate Increase from 11% to 11.5% effective 1 July 2024

If any wages were paid on or after 1 July 2024 (even if pay period related to pre-30 June 2024) – 11.5% rate applies

June 2024 Quarter Superannuation – due 28 July 2024.

Taxable Payments Annual Report (TPAR) – due 28 August 2024

Ensure you have correctly classified your employee or contractor employment relationships.

Annual Payroll Tax Reconciliation

NSW due 28 July 2024

VIC/QLD/WA/TAS due 22 July 2024

SA due 29 July 2024

If you have any questions, please contact your Harris Black team member.

Division 7A, is a measure that prevents tax-free distribution of profits to shareholders or associates of shareholders of a company.  This could be in the form of loans or debts that get “forgiven” or won’t be paid back in the foreseeable future.  Since loans do not meet the definition of a “dividend” – these would essentially be tax-free distributions.

Division 7A does not let this happen by stipulating that such amounts transferred to shareholders or their associates will be treated as dividends.  Alternatively, these payments can be classified as loans as long as they are bound by genuine commercial terms (s109N).  For such a payment to be treated as a loan and not a dividend, there must be a loan agreement in writing.  The loan interest must be in line to a “statutory” interest rate (aka benchmark interest rate) that the ATO updates for each year; the loan must also last for no longer than 7 or 25 years – depending on whether it is secured or unsecured.

Other conditions that must be met for such a loan to be a “Division 7A complying loan” is the condition of an annual minimum repayment.  If say, your minimum repayment amount for the financial year is $30,000 but you only pay back $25,000, the shortfall ($5,000) would be deemed as an unfranked dividend for the financial year.

One may creatively argue that it is okay to repay the loan very conveniently just before the end of the financial year – only to take the same or greater amount of money out of the company at the beginning of the next financial year.  This is where s109R of Div7A comes in.

s109R discredits such schemes and makes sure only certain repayments count towards the annual repayment of a Div7A loan.  In a nutshell, it says that the following scenarios do not count towards a repayment when it is clear for a reasonable person to establish that

payments were made only to be redrawn in the form of a similar or larger loan later on

OR

when a new loan is drawn which is in value similar to or larger than the minimum repayment that is due.

If a new loan undertaken is significantly lower than the minimum repayment, it should not result in the implementation of s109R.