Legislative Updates & Threshold Changes

Written by: The Institute of Certified Bookkeepers

SUPERANNUATION

Compliance

New legislation to amend laws relating to Super and PAYG withholding compliance have become effective from 1st April 2019:

The ATO are now able to disclose information to employees:
- the non-payment of superannuation by employers (past and present) including the actions they can take to get their superannuation paid.
- Advising if there is reasonable doubt superannuation not been paid
- Any action the ATO has or is taking in relation to the non payment.
STP reporting will apply to all employers making identification of employers who are not compliant easier.

Superannuation Contribution Caps

Superannuation Guarantee maximum contributions required to be paid by the employer has increased to $55,270 per quarter from 1 July 2019
Superannuation concessional contribution, which is super calculated before tax, the cap remains at $25,000 from 1 July 2019
Superannuation Guarantee which is the minimum of superannuation an employee must pay to their employee, remains at 9.5%

THRESHOLDS

Employment Termination Payment Cap (ETP)

Employment termination payment (ETP) is a lump sum payment rather than a wage payment made as a result of termination.

From 1st July 2019 the ETP cap threshold for taxing the lump sum payment for both life and death benefits will increase to $210,000 and the Whole of income cap remains at $180,000

Redundancy Threshold (Lump Sum D)

From 1st July 2019 redundancy tax free threshold Increases to $10,638 + $5,320 for each year of service

TAX RATES

PAYG Withholding Tables

Legislation for changes to income tax thresholds including following offsets:

low- and middle-income earners for 2018 to 2022
- Increase 32.5% top bracket threshold $87,000 to $90,000

Additional Low and Middle Tax Offset (LAMITO)

New low- and middle-income tax offsets apply for 2018–19 through and including years to 2021–2022

Australian resident employees (and certain trustees) that do not exceed a taxable income of $125,333 are entitled to the new low and middle tax offset. This is in addition to the existing low-income tax offset. It is calculated during the preparation of an income tax return.

Calculated as follows. If taxable income:

does not exceed $37,000 you are entitled to $200
exceeds $37,000 but does not exceed $48,000, you are entitled to $200 plus 3% of the amount of the income that exceeds $37,000
exceeds $48,000 but not $90,000, you are entitled to $530
exceeds $90,000 you are entitled to $530 less 1.5% of the amount of the income that exceeds $90,000.

HIGHER EDUCATION LOAN PROGRAM (HELP)

A new set of repayment thresholds for 2019/2020

From 1 July 2019, the new minimum HELP repayment threshold will be when taxable income is $45,881 or above, with a 1% repayment rate, with a further 17 thresholds and repayment rates, up to a top threshold of $134,573 at which 10% of income is repayable.

Source: Department of Education and Training

PAYROLL TAX

New South Wales payroll tax threshold to increase on 01 July 2019 to $900,000 annually.

See below table
South Australia’s payroll tax threshold increased to $1,500 000 annually or $125,000 monthly on 1 January 2019
Queensland’s payroll tax threshold increased to $1,300 000 annually, $108,333 monthly or $25,000 weekly on 01 July 2019.
- Qld tax rate is 4.75% for employers under $6.5m was and $4.95% for employers with wages over $6.5m
- Regional employers may be entitled to a 1% discount on the rate
All other states are unchanged.

MOTOR VEHICLE GST LIMIT

The current motor vehicle GST limit is $57,581 (GST $5,234). No changes advised at this time.

LIVING AWAY FROM HOME ALLOWANCE (LAFHA) 2020

Living Away from Home Allowance (LAFHA) is an allowance to compensate an employee who is required to live away from their usual place of residence to do their job. This allowance compensates their additional non-deductible expenses. The LAFHA allowance will increase for 2019/2020 financial year for reasonable food and drink within Australia. Children are those aged under 12 at the beginning of the year. Australian and Overseas LAFHA figures are available on the ATO website

INSTANT ASSET WRITE OFF

The instant asset write off for income tax purposes has been extended to 30th June 2020 and now includes businesses up to $50 million turnover. The threshold that can be claimed is:

All business up to $50 million turnover: