Welcome to your November newsletter from all of us here at Bee Group Accountants.
Those who have scheduled their annual taxes to be completed in November, you will be receiving correspondence shortly that will detail out the information that we will need to get started.
If you are yet to get in touch with us about your preferred month to get your accounts done, please feel free to contact us.
21 – Lodge and pay October BAS (if you lodge monthly).
28 – If you did not pay your employee superannuation contributions on time, then this is the due date for lodgement and payment of Quarter 1 (September Quarter) Superannuation Guarantee Charge Statement.
Remember, you are best to lodge all documents on time even if you don’t have the money to pay it. This is because it can mitigate ATO collection processes where they seek to issue a Directors Penalty Notice (DPN).
Audit Shield
Bee Group Accountants are now pleased to offer Audit Shield, an optional Tax Audit Insurance offering designed to provide relief from the professional fees associated with government initiated revenue audit activity.
If we’ve spoken in the past few months you’ll know that I strongly believe that the ATO will swing from its previous position on collection through to firm enforcement. They have already flagged a number of wide ranging audit activity for small to medium business owners, including areas where they haven’t been for years.
This will include GST, Cash Economy and Fringe Benefits Tax among many other things. We are seeing an uptick in Superannuation Guarantee Charge compliance as well.
This type of audit insurance will cover any ATO inquiries that have a compulsion for you to respond. That is why we chose this over other products on the market. This covers not only ‘Audit’ but also Reviews and Investigations as well.
What is Audit Shield?
Audit Shield provides for the relief of having to pay the professional fees otherwise payable by you to your accountant when incurred as a result of your accountant being required to respond, on your behalf, to an audit, enquiry, investigation or review (audit activity) instigated by the Australian Taxation Office.
The cost of being properly represented can be quite considerable depending on the circumstances. Even a simple audit or investigation can require hours of work.
Audit Shield provides a fixed, cost-effective solution to guard against these unbudgeted costs.
What are the benefits of Audit Shield?
Data matching becomes more sophisticated each year. However that doesn’t mean that the ATO necessarily knows what to do with it and at this time they are using it like a very blunt instrument.
This makes it simpler and far more likely for previously untargeted taxpayers to encounter audit activity, despite being compliant.
With Audit Shield, you can rest assured knowing that the relevant professional fees will be protected. Often these fees can be greater than those your accountant may charge you for completing the returns/filings.
Is Audit Shield tax deductible?
In Australia payment for Audit Shield is fully tax deductible for individuals, businesses and SMSFs.
Are previously filed returns included?
Yes. The protection is retrospective, so previously filed returns are included automatically.
How do I sign up?
Over the next few weeks, we will be contacting you via email to see if you would like to register for Audit Shield. This email will contain the instructions on how you can proceed with Audit Shield. Follow those instructions as soon as possible to ensure your coverage against costly audit processes.
Protecting Your Business From Online Threats
Are you taking steps to protect your business from online threats? You may have heard about, or potentially even been caught up in, some of the recent cyber-attacks affecting some large organisations in Australia. Although the risk to small businesses is generally lower as they are not the primary target for hackers, it is still critical that you take steps to protect yourself, your employees, and your customers from online attacks. If you don’t, it could be a disaster waiting to happen.
Read more here for tips on how to protect your business from the threat of cyber-attacks.
Last chance for JobTrainer funding
Free and low-cost training funded under the federal-state JobTrainer Fund wraps up at the end of the year, with enrolments closing 31 December 2022.
The COVID-19 response measure funds free or low-fee courses for all Queenslanders in high priority digital skills as well as aged care, childcare and disability care, regardless of age or employment status – with additional training places for job seekers and young people in other areas of demand.
See if JobTrainer can help you, your staff or a job seeker get skills to take on the future at www.desbt.qld.gov.au/jobtrainer. Places are limited, so don’t delay! Check availability with training providers today.
For more on the range of free and subsidised training opportunities available in Queensland, visit www.qld.gov.au/skillspower.
Your business’ greatest asset is you
When you’re a small business owner, your greatest asset is you.
So, make sure that you are looking after yourself. There are a number of new and existing government initiatives that seek to provide business wellness coaching.
In the next month we will also be launching our free Cash Flow Workshop that will show you just how you can begin to monitor and manage your own Cash Flow. This will be delivered in an e-learning format with a once a month group coffee chat either in person or via Zoom so that you can make your cash flow work for you.
If you are looking for business coaching reach out to us so that we can help guide you in the right direction.
Reminder: Director ID
You must register for your Director ID number. Directors will need to obtain a Director Identification Number under new government requirements which they say are an attempt to improve record keeping, crackdown on illegal activity, and increase the transparency of companies.
The date for this is fast approaching and there has been a lot of client feedback that it can be a little difficult to link the required roles to your MyGovID in order to make the application. To make sure that you have enough time to do this you should start soon.
You will not get formal written notification of this number so just make sure that you keep a note of the details that will be provided to you at the end of the online session and send us through the info.
You will need one of these if you are the director of any company – that includes trading companies, superannuation trustees and not for profit clubs etc.
To apply, visit this link: https://www.abrs.gov.au/director-identification-number
If you have already applied and received your Director ID, please ensure that you send it through to us to update our records.
Valuing fund assets for your annual return
Each year, trustees of self-managed super fund (SMSF) must value the assets within their funds at market value to comply with super laws.
An asset’s market value is the amount someone could be reasonably expected to pay if the asset was for sale, and are used when preparing your fund’s accounts, statements, and annual return.
The valuations will be reviewed by your SMSF auditor as part of their annual audit. They will check the process you have taken to value the asset, and whether this is appropriate based on the nature of the asset. You must provide objective and supportable evidence for the valuation of the fund’s assets. Please note that the auditor is not responsible for valuing your assets.
It is best to have your valuations completed before engaging your auditor as the audit will not be able to be completed without this.
For more information on asset valuation, please see the Australian Tax Office’s valuation guidelines.
Telephone Update
Our main telephone number is up and running again so please feel free to call through to our team on 07 5501 5765.
If we are not able to attend to your call, please leave a detailed message about what it is you need so that we can get the right member of our team to call you back to assist.
Alternatively, please feel free to send a message to our text line (for SMS messages only) on 0485 868 152.
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 day!
Sheree and the team here at Bee Group
P.S. Don’t forget to apply for and send through your Director ID by 30 November. We keep hammering this only because it is very likely that there will be financial penalties involved if you don’t get one. And you only have until the end of the month!
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 too!
We truly appreciate the opportunity to help and welcome any recommendations.
