LATEST ACCOUNTING NEWS
Small businesses may ‘collapse under strain of payday super’, IPA warns
ATO’s hands tied with scrapping on-hold debts, expert says
What Drives Your Business Growth and Profits?
Australian Taxation Office (ATO) shifting to firmer debt collection activity
Why employee v contractor comes down to fine print
Sharing economy reporting regime for platform operators
Countries producing the most solar power by gigawatt hours
Illegal access nets $637 million
Accessing superannuation benefits.
Does your business have a company Power of Attorney?
Labor tweaks stage 3 tax cuts to make room for ‘middle Australia’
GrantConnect
2 in 3 SMEs benefit from instant asset write-off, survey reveals
Updated guidance on R&D claims
Do you know how to recover debts?
Wheat Production by Country
Types of small business benchmarks
What is a Commercial Lease?
ATO warns advisers against suspect R&D tax claims
The year of workplace law upheaval
How to Resolve Invoice Payment Disputes
Raft of revenue tweaks in MYEFO to raise millions
The Countries that Export the Most Wine in the World
Quarter 4 October - December 2023
Quarter 3 July - September 2023
Quarter 2 April - June 2023
Quarter 1 January - March 2023
Quarter 4 October - December 2022
Quarter 3 July - September 2022
Quarter 2 April - June 2022
Quarter 1 January - March 2022
Quarter 4 October - December 2021
Quarter 3 July - September 2021
Quarter 2 April - June 2021
Quarter 1 January - March 2021
Quarter 4 October - December 2020
Quarter 3 July - September 2020
Quarter 2 April - June 2020
Quarter 1 January - March 2020
Quarter 4 October - December 2019
Quarter 3 July - September 2019
Quarter 2 April - June 2019
Quarter 1 January - March 2019
Quarter 4 October - December 2018
Quarter 3 July - September 2018
Quarter 2 April - June 2018
Quarter 1 January - March 2018
Quarter 4 October - December 2017
Quarter 3 July - September 2017
Quarter 2 April - June 2017
Quarter 1 January - March 2017
Quarter 4 October - December 2016
Quarter 3 July - September 2016
Quarter 2 April - June 2016
Quarter 1 January - March 2016
Quarter 4 October - December 2015
Quarter 3 July - September 2015
Quarter 2 April - June 2015
Quarter 1 January - March 2015
Quarter 4 October - December 2014
‘HomeBuilder’ grants now available.
$150k instant asset write-off extended for 6 months
JobKeeper documentation ‘absolutely critical’ in ATO audit
Tax Time Checklists - Individuals; Company; Trust; Partnership; and Super Funds
ATO updates JobKeeper compliance approach
COVID-19 hotspots - tax time 2020
Tax reform to feature heavily in PM’s JobMaker plan
Jobkeeper Fraud warning
ATO extends initial JobKeeper payment deadline
Boosting cash flow - ATO
Our website, your resources
ATO releases JobKeeper alternative test
Temporary Working from Home Expenses Rule
Minimum Pensions Halved – 2020 & 2021
More coronavirus support for landlords, commercial tenants
COVID-19: Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package
What Covid-19 relief packages mean to you.
Now I’m working from home, what can I claim?
Global statistics plus Covid-19 updates
ATO clarifies COVID-19 rent relief concerns
Banks to defer small-business loan repayments for 6 months
Historic $130bn wage subsidy to cover 6 million workers
Stage 2 – Covid-19 stimulus package.
JobKeeper documentation ‘absolutely critical’ in ATO audit

Practitioners have been advised to keep contemporaneous documentation of their calculations and advice around the JobKeeper payment scheme to avoid inevitable audit scrutiny in the near future.



       


While the ATO has declared that it will take an “understanding and sympathetic” compliance approach when reviewing JobKeeper turnover projections, practitioners have now been urged to document their work as much as possible to cover all the bases when the ATO comes knocking.


“[The payments are going to flow] without much testing going on; in other words, the Tax Office isn’t going to be able to sit there and scrutinise everybody’s JobKeeper application now,” the Tax Institute’s senior tax counsel, Professor Robert Deutsch, said on Accountants Daily Insider.


“What will happen is that some months from now, probably three to six months from now, they will start to look at a number of claims, particularly the larger ones, and start to investigate in a sort of audit way to try to understand if everyone has been doing the right thing, whether there have been people who have been claiming when they shouldn’t be.


“It is very important that taxpayers who are now claiming the JobKeeper payment document exactly what it is that they have worked out that enabled them to confidently say they are entitled to the JobKeeper payment.


“In particular, the turnover issue: How did you establish your turnover for a particular period in 2020? How did you show that the turnover was down 30 per cent on last year?”


The ATO’s recently published LCR 2020/1 has stated that the Tax Office will allow for some tolerance around turnover projection predictions.


Likewise, the Tax Practitioners Board has now confirmed that tax agents will not necessarily be in breach of the Code of Professional Conduct if there is a mistake in their client’s turnover projection.


“Where information provided by a client seems credible (and, for existing clients, is consistent with previous statements) and you have no basis on which to doubt the information supplied, you may discharge your responsibility under the code by accepting the statement provided by the client without further checking,” the TPB said.


“However, if the information does not seem credible or appears to be inconsistent with a previous statement, further enquiries would be required. In this case, taking reasonable care may mean asking questions of your client or examining the client’s records, or both.”


Professor Deutsch believes “coherent and cogent” documentation will be a practitioner’s best defence should the ATO start asking for information.


“Practitioners should be helping clients to do that documentation because that’s really the vital part in this whole jigsaw puzzle — it is being able to say to an auditor six months from now, ‘Here’s a piece of paper that explains the whole thing’,” Professor Deutsch said.


“If it is coherent and cogent, the auditors will probably say, ‘Thank you very much, I’ll take a copy of this’, go away and leave you alone.


“A mistake that a lot of taxpayers make is saying I’ll worry about that when I get there.


“The problem of worrying about it when you get there is that when you get there, you can’t remember much about this because so much has happened in the interim, so document it now.”


 


 


Jotham Lian 
13 May 2020 
accountantsdaily.com.au


 




23rd-June-2020
 
CPA logo Peter I Price & Associates Pty Ltd
Phone: (07) 3376 3411| Email: info@peterprice.com.au
15 Loffs Road, Mt Ommaney QLD 4074
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.