Keeping you updated Before we bombard you with all of the available stimulus for employers and businesses, we'd like to let the individual clients know that for those that are able to work from home there will be an extra tax deduction concession of being able to claim a higher hourly rate for home office in your 2020 Tax Return – please refer to further details below. Other individual and household assistance, that includes social security and early release of superannuation can be found here . Business Based Clients We are sending you this broad summary of the Government's key aspects of assistance to help with the economic fallout that will, and is already beginning to occur. Boosting Cash Flow for Employers! [from $20,000 up to $100,000] [payback not required] [not to be confused with JobKeeper] The PAYG Withholding [W2 label] on the March 2020 BAS - through to the June 2020 BAS - will not be necessary for you to pay. It needs to be lodged, but not paid - leaving you with the cashflow to help fund your business. Post 1st July 2020, this is then equally matched in equal credits again - from the June BAS - through to the September 2020 BAS - depending on whether you're monthly or quarterly. The Government will credit your ATO integrated client account directly. You do not need to apply for this! It will just be credited automatically. Please click here for further information. JobKeeper Payments [More Detail Released] [Enrolments from 20th April 2020] [non payroll Directors, Partners and Beneficiaries included - yet limited - see detail on links] We have provided some links below to websites that are being regularly updated by the Government and the ATO, as they grapple with the introduction of JobKeeper, and the mechanics of how it is to be handled over the coming period. https://www.ato.gov.au/General/JobKeeper-Payment/Employers/ https://www.ato.gov.au/general/jobkeeper-payment/employers/enrol-and-apply-for-the-jobkeeper-payment/ https://coronavirus.fairwork.gov.au/coronavirus-and-australian-workplace-laws/flexibility-in-workplace-laws-during-coronavirus/jobkeeper-changes-to-the-fair-work-act https://treasury.gov.au/coronavirus/jobkeeper There are clearly many questions being asked around the employer side of things with respect to managing the cash outflow and administering the processing of payroll – and the delayed receipt of the subsidy, not expected until early May 2020. ATO concession for the first two JobKeeper fortnights - there are concessions being made available in April - the ATO expects these are to be caught up and paid before the end of April. [see Question 3 on page 8 of the PDF we link to below from one of our associations]. For those of you who process your own payroll, if eligible, we ask that you follow the ATO's step by step process - particularly once the 20th April update occurs. You may wish to start the process beforehand to establish your access to the ATO's Business Portal and myGovID authentication - as we anticipate their systems will be inundated shortly. https://www.mygovid.gov.au/ https://info.authorisationmanager.gov.au/ We ask that if you have questions, please first browse the content found on the links supplied, as this is also our source of detail on these areas. The content found on these links is being updated regularly, sometimes hourly, so we suggest you re-visit for updates. We do however also have available our associations JobKeeper summary with more practical tips, questions and answers, that you could read through for those of you who may not find the answers to your questions on the other links supplied above. For those clients that we process payroll for - we will be in contact with you separately. Preparation of March 2020 BAS [Being prepared with lodgement delay] For those clients that we prepare these for, please know that we are drafting these as rapidly as we possibly can, however, we are not sending them through for approval or lodgement as yet. We are going to lodge these on their due date and no earlier - as our information from the ATO is that they do not wish these to be lodged, until they have their own system enabled to process the credit, and that this may not be available until 28 th April, 2020. Short Term Interest Only Business Loans [Of up to $250K] Our finance broker has been kind enough to outline their experiences, and we ask if you wish to seek this pathway to fund your business through this difficult period, you can refer to the pdf here . NSW Payroll Tax [25% Discount] Employers that have NSW Payroll Tax obligations, are able to not pay for the months of March, April or May 2020, and will be given an annual tax liability discount of 25% when they lodge their annual reconciliation, due 28 th July 2020. For further information please click here. NSW Government Grants If eligible, from 17 th April,2020, you can apply for the small business COVID-19 support grant. For further information, criteria and to apply online, please click here. Individuals [Working from home tax deduction] From 1 st March 2020 until 30 th June 2020, individuals who are working from home , are able to on their 2020 Tax Return , claim under one of the following methods- Shortcut method: Claim a higher rate of 80 cents for each work hour you work from home Fixed rate method: Claim the standard 52 cents per work hour for running costs The work-related portion of your actual costs including phone and internet expenses, computer consumables, stationery The work-related portion of the decline in value of computer, laptop or similar device Actual cost method: Claim the actual work-related portion of all your running expenses, calculated on a reasonable basis Please click here for further information. ATO Payments Due [Business or Personal] If there are any ATO obligations that require payment, the ATO is allowing almost in every case, an interest free deferral until September 2020 if you can advise that COVID-19 has had an adverse effect to your circumstances.  You can contact the ATO directly on their contact number, which would have been disclosed on your Notice of Assessment or Activity Statement. If you wish, or do not have any luck contacting them directly, you may contact our office to assist you. Kind regards,

JobKeeper Payment There has been further details released on an updated Fact Sheet on the JobKeeper Payment . We apologise to those of you who receive this note – that this payment may not apply to. This method of delivery however is the quickest way we can provide an important update to those clients of ours that this may be relevant to. Feel free to pass this note onto anyone who you believe may benefit. Updated [and highlighted] fact sheet can be found here. Key points are: Sole traders are included Turnover [sales/income] needs to be compared to the month or three months [ depending on the natural BAS reporting period of your business ] If you were not in business a year ago, the business may still be eligible - the ATO has discretion to consider If the business income falls less than 30%, the business may still be eligible – tolerance provisions will exist If the comparative business income in the prior year was not representative of the usual income , the ATO has discretion to consider Number of eligible individuals to be reported per month Payments made monthly in arrears First payment in May 2020 We ask that you please read [ and re-read ] the attachment before making enquiries, as the attached is the latest information/detail we have available to us at this point. Kind regards,

Possible Action Required: Assistance for your Business to cope with the CoronaVirus effects (Business Clients) Here is a 2-minute email with some insights to help you during this difficult time with the Coronavirus (or COVID-19) affecting all of us. As a business owner, you need to face the possibility of team members being absent from your workplace, product supply issues and demand for your services and products reducing over the short term. There are 3 urgent things you need to be aware of: Government Stimulus Package – Our Tax Planning meeting with you this year will be VITAL! Business Continuity Planning – ACCESS TO BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN HERE Get your Will and EPOA updated / set up NOW 1. GOVERNMENT STIMULUS PACKAGE – OUR TAX PLANNING WITH YOU THIS YEAR WILL BE VITAL! The Australian Government has just released a $17.6 billion economic stimulus package. The package has been marketed as a measure to protect the economy by maintaining confidence, supporting investment and keeping people in their jobs. The key tax and stimulus measures include: Business Investment From Thursday 12 March 2020 , the instant asset write-off threshold has been increased from $30,000 to $150,000 until 30 June 2020 . Cashflow Assistance Tax-free payments of up to $25,000 for eligible small and medium businesses based on their PAYG withholding obligations. This is not a cash payment, but it is a credit equal to 50% of the PAYG amounts withheld from salary and wages paid to employees. Businesses that lodge activity statements on a quarterly basis will be eligible to receive the credit for the quarters ending March 2020 and June 2020. Business that lodge on a monthly basis will be eligible for the credit for the March 2020, April 2020, May 2020 and June 2020 lodgements. If a business pays salary and wages to employees but is not required to withhold any tax, then a minimum payment of $2,000 will still be made. The minimum $2,000 payment will be applied to the first activity statement lodgement. Wage subsidies to support the retention of apprentices and trainees – Employers with less than 20 full-time employees may be entitled to apply for Government funded wage subsidies amounting to 50% of an apprentice's or trainee's wage for up to nine months from 1 January 2020 to 30 September 2020. The maximum subsidy for each apprentice/trainee is $21,000. Individual Assistance Tax-free payments of $750 to social security, veteran and other income support recipients and eligible concession card holders. It is estimated that around half of those who will benefit will be pensioners. These payments will commence to be automatically made from 31 March 2020. 2. BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING As a business owner, now is the time to plan for employees being away from your workplace, shortages of supply, reduction in sales, and the possibility of your workplace being closed for a short period of time if everyone is being forced to self-quarantine. Over the next few weeks, we suggest you consider and/or call us to discuss the following: Employees working from home [if at all possible], and workplace obligation How to pay your bills in the short term if your sales start to dry up How to communicate in a reassuring way with your clients and customers How to keep things moving with your business We're not suggesting in any way that we have all the answers, but it is important for us to work with you and help you and plan for what will happen in the weeks and months ahead. Contact us TODAY to book in a 30 minute phone call or Zoom online meeting so we can discuss your business situation and make plans to assist you. 3. GET YOUR WILL AND EPOA UPDATED / SET UP NOW If you have to self-quarantine or are admitted to hospital, if you don't have an EPOA then no-one else can make important business or financial decisions on your behalf. As a business owner, it is 100% essential that you have an up to date EPOA and Will, and that your family know where these are stored. Please email us if you need a referral to one of our legal contacts. NEXT STEPS These are times when we need to stay calm and rely on reliable news sources and information from State and Australian Government websites. What you see on social media may be panicky and unreliable information!  Our team are here to help you. Please reply to this email or phone us on 02 9686 3130 if you need any assistance! Kind regards,

The budget delivered by Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan could be reasonably described as anti-climactic in many respects. It comes as no surprise therefore that the budget was devoid of any attempt to genuinely work towards true reform of the overall tax system (rather than periodic band-aid measures) to adequately face the challenges of the 21st century. Many key announcements were made pre-budget and confirmed by the government in the budget papers, including: wide-ranging changes to the superannuation system such as the 15% tax on certain earnings in the pension phase, the increase in the concessional contribution cap to $35,000 for older Australians and the changes to the excess contribution tax regime; the deferral of tax cuts due for the 2015-16 year which were to be funded out of carbon tax receipts; the abandonment of proposed increases in Family Tax Benefit - Part A payments; and an increase in the Medicare levy of 0.5% to contribute to the cost of the proposed National Disability Insurance scheme (NDIS). Announcements which were unexpected and which will have a significant impact on middle-Australia were: The removal of the baby-bonus, to be replaced by a significantly reduced payment which will only be available to taxpayers who qualify for Family Tax Benefit - Part A; and The phase out of the net medical expense offset (which will in fact be immediate for some taxpayers). An announcement of interest from the Assistant Treasurer was titled "ATO taskforce to target trust misuse." It is to be hoped that the activity undertaken by the taskforce is targeted at what would be considered by a reasonable person as "misuse" (which should not be tolerated) and not merely the use of trusts as part of ordinary family or commercial dealings. Given that a federal election is imminent it is hardly surprising that the most obvious pain arising from the budget is likely to be felt by the corporate sector, in particular multi-nationals. The government has announced a focus on: Anti-profit shifting measures, in particular the operation of the thin capitalisation rules; Restructuring arrangements which have a profit manipulation intent; and Reducing the tax concessions available for depreciating assets used in exploration activities. The government has presumably concluded that not a lot of voters will be conscious of, or understand, measures of this type! The expected major "social reform" initiatives, the NDIS and the Gonski education measures, were announced but the funding in the long term appears brittle and the extent of implementation and funding will no doubt be influenced by the accuracy of cost estimates and projected government revenues. Whilst some Australians will be impacted by budget measures in the short term, for the majority it is likely to be a case of roll on to the federal election! View the key measures announced in the federal budget here.