Welcome to March! The first quarter of this calendar year is flying by and we hope you are all making steps in the right direction to achieve your financial goals.
We still have a few annual returns to complete and will be making contact with you over the coming weeks if you have not completed your 2022 financial year returns yet. This is especially important for our self-managed super fund clients, as you will need your annual returns audited by our external auditor which can take up to 6-8 weeks.
If you are ready to get started, then please feel free to email us so we can get it scheduled in.
Upcoming Dates for March
21 – Lodge and pay February BAS (if you lodge monthly).
We have some exciting things planned for this year too. This includes events, new service offerings, small business courses, free training, and much more!
Keep an eye on our newsletters to make sure you are the first to know.
Finding New Opportunities
As a small business owner, finding new opportunities is essential to grow and succeed in today’s competitive market. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to expand your business, there are several ways to identify new opportunities and capitalise on them.
Here are some tips on finding new opportunities in small business:
1. Stay up-to-date on industry trends
To find new opportunities in your industry, you need to stay informed about the latest trends and developments. Subscribe to industry publications, attend trade shows and conferences, and follow industry leaders and influencers on social media. By keeping up with the latest trends, you can identify emerging markets, new technologies, and changing consumer preferences that can help you stay ahead of the competition.
2. Look for gaps in the market
One way to find new opportunities is to look for gaps in the market. Is there a product or service that your competitors aren’t offering? Is there an underserved market segment that you could target? By identifying gaps in the market, you can create a niche for yourself and differentiate your business from the competition.
3. Listen to customer feedback
Your customers can be a valuable source of information about new opportunities. Ask for feedback about your products and services, and listen to their suggestions and critiques. This can help you identify areas for improvement and new products or services that your customers are looking for.
4. Network with other businesses and entrepreneurs
Networking with other businesses and entrepreneurs can help you identify new opportunities and potential collaborations. Attend local business events, join industry associations, and participate in online communities to connect with other small business owners and entrepreneurs. By building relationships with other businesses, you can learn from their experiences and potentially find new opportunities for your own business.
Remember, we here at Bee Group Accountants are always here to help, so if you need a hand to make that first step or would like a discussion about moving your business forward, please reach out to us.
Reminder: Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave
From 1st February 2023, employees of non-small business employers (employers with 15 or more employees) can access 10 days of paid family domestic violence leave. This includes part-time and casual employees.
Employees can take this leave if they need to do something to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence.
For eligible employees, the leave has been added to the National Employment Standards (NES). This means it’s now a minimum leave entitlement, like annual leave or paid sick and carer’s leave.
Small business employers and employees
For employers with less than 15 employees, employees are able to access this paid leave from 1 August 2023. Until that time, they can take unpaid family and domestic violence leave.
For more information, visit Paid family and domestic violence leave.
Family and domestic violence support services
Confidential information, counselling, and support for people impacted by domestic and family violence is available at 1800 RESPECT, the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service.
Bonus: Excel Tips
For small business owners who use Microsoft Excel for financial tracking and analysis, a useful tip is to use conditional formatting to highlight important data points. By selecting a range of cells and applying conditional formatting rules, you can automatically colour-code cells based on specific criteria such as values above or below a certain threshold, duplicates, or errors. This makes it easier to quickly identify key insights and anomalies in financial data, which can help inform important business decisions.
Access the Conditional Formatting option from the Home tab in Microsoft Excel. Depending on your needs, choose the cell rules that you would like to apply and set the criteria.
In this example, we are highlighting cells that contain values less than 5 by shading them in light red with dark red text.
Looking to Upskill?
The Fair Work Ombudsman is offering free short courses for employers, managers, employees and intermediaries. These courses are free and interactive, short (20-40 minutes in most cases) and available online for your convenience.
Topics include:
- Difficult Conversations in the Workplace: Learn the skills you need to discuss difficult workplace issues with employees
- Hiring Employees: Learn the steps involved in hiring new staff
- Record-keeping and Pay Slips: Learn the necessities of good-record keeping in your business
- Workplace Flexibility: Learn how flexibility can work for your business and employees
For more information, visit the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Online Learning Centre.
Pay as you go (PAYG) Instalments
Pay as you go (PAYG) instalments are a method of paying your taxes gradually throughout the year. If you are self-employed or have income that is not subject to withholding tax, such as within a self-managed superannuation fund, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) may require you to make regular payments of your estimated tax liability. These payments are called PAYG instalments, and they help you avoid a large tax bill at the end of the financial year.
The amount of each instalment is based on your expected income for the year and is calculated by the ATO. You can make your PAYG instalments online and they are due on set dates throughout the year. The ATO will normally contact you before your payment is due.
If you think your current PAYG instalments could result in you paying too little or too much tax, it is possible for you to vary your instalments.
However, you must make variations on or before the day your instalment payment is due. Your varied amount will apply for all your remaining instalments unless you make another variation before the end of the financial year.
You can use the PAYG instalment calculator to help you work out your new instalment amount or rate based on your estimated income for the year.
Government doubles tax on super funds larger than $3m
The Albanese Labor government has proposed changes to the existing superannuation concessional tax, seeing superannuation funds valued at more than $3 million having their concessional tax rate doubled from July 1, 2025.
While the government states that this move is predicted to save the budget $2 billion a year, there are other economic models that suggest that this is significantly higher than what will likely result.
Under the existing system all earnings from super funds are taxed at 15%. This will remain for those funds with balances less than $3 million.
From the 2025-2026 financial year, superannuation balances above $3 million will be taxed at a rate of 30%. It should be noted that this change is on top of the one a few years ago which meant that funds with superannuation account balances greater than (at the time) $1.6 million were already no longer subject to concessions.
The press reporting says that this change is anticipated to affect less than half of one percent of Australians, or around 80,000 accounts. However, the devil is always in the detail, and like most politicians when it comes to tax, this is press release policy so there is currently no further information available.
This includes information on important matters such as a whether this is a single calculation event (like TBAR) or whether it will be an annual assessment. And where it is annual, will it be calculated with reference to the value at the end of the previous year (like for pensions) or at the end of the current year. Further, will this preliminary threshold be indexed in line with inflation?
This is important because the assets of an SMSF are marked to market, which means that value will fluctuate each year depending upon the underlying value of the assets.
As actual legislation comes to pass on this, we will be able to let you know more. But at the moment all we have are the press releases, which aside from the headline are, quite frankly, not much to go on.
This is a key point of frustration for me personally for a lot of reasons. As I’ve said before, superannuation is subject to sovereign risk. These are exactly the types of changes and tinkering that once started, won’t stop. Especially from a government that has now referred to our money in super as their honeypot and who, at the same time, are demanding a definition on the purpose of superannuation alongside their requirements of nation building and values based capitalism.
If you need help in structuring your taxation affairs, please be sure to let us know.
Electronic Signing
You may have received documents to sign from us using our new Electronic Signing system called Annature. This system is very similar to Docusign but with a few extra benefits, including:
- Easy to use signing interface;
- Text message notifications when an envelope has been created for you to sign;
- No requirement to create an account;
- Works seamlessly with Xero (our preferred accounting package); and
- Is a system that is proudly made in Australia and understands the needs of Australian clients.
Remember, if you are expecting documents from us, please continue to check your junk email folders in case it is mistakenly filtered out of your inbox.
Please also make sure that you follow the instructions contained within the email to complete signing successfully. If there are any questions, feel free to check the help section for tips or email us for assistance.
Need to update your contact details?
Visit our knowledge base for help on how to do this: https://help.thebeegroup.com.au/articles/updating-my-contact-details
Need Help?
The Bee Group Knowledge Base is filled with articles to help you with everyday frequently asked questions:
https://help.thebeegroup.com.au/
Alternatively, you can submit a help request online via our site at:
https://www.thebeegroup.com.au/support/
As always, please reach out to us if you have any questions or queries. We look forward to hearing from you.
Have a great month!
Sheree and the team at Bee Group Accountants
We have been working hard at improving our systems and building up our team. This means that we are now able to start accepting new clients. If you have someone that you know who is looking for an accountant – please ask them to get in contact with our office via phone, email or through our website.
If there is anything that you think we can improve on too please be sure to let us know. We are working hard to improve your experience in working with us as well!
We truly appreciate the opportunity to help and welcome any recommendations.
