Throughout the year I am conscious to make tax deductible donations to many charities – it’s a great way to give back to your community and to support organisations close to your heart.

You can only claim a tax deduction if your gift or donation is made to organisations with deductible gift recipient status (DGR), to check this status you can search the ABR Website.

To claim a tax deduction for a gift, four conditions must be met:

• The gift must be made to a deductible gift recipient – see above
• The gift must truly be a gift and you cannot receive a material benefit or advantage – as such raffle ticket purchases are not gifts
• The gift must be covered by one of the gift types – money is the most common gift, but deductions may be claimed for gifts of other types such as property or shares
• The gift must comply with any relevant gift conditions – refer to the DGR for any conditions which may affect the type of gifts they can receive

You should also note that deductions for gifts are to be claimed by the person that makes the gift (the donor), so make sure the receipt received is in the correct name!

If you’re sitting there thinking it might be a good time to make a donation (just before the end of the financial year), then…I am unashamedly going to tell you all that I am participating in the MS Walk + Fun Run  this Sunday in Melbourne to raise awareness of MS and much needed funds to research both cause and cure…and I’m doing it for a beautiful friend…if you’d like to make a donation towards our team, please follow this link.

Regards

Did you know that since 1st July 2005, most employees are able to choose their super fund?

This is a great initiative for employees, as it gives you the chance to easily keep your super in one place and avoid the costs associated with having multiple super funds (as was very common in the past).

You can generally choose your super fund if you are one of the following:

• employed under a federal award
• employed under a former state award, now known as a ‘notional agreement preserving state award’
• employed under another award or agreement that doesn’t require super support
• not employed under any state award or industrial agreement (including contractors paid principally for their labour).

While you can make a choice of super fund as often as you like, your employer is only obligated to accept one election every 12 months.

You can download a Standard Choice Form from the ATO website here, alternatively most super funds have a pre-filled form on their website, along with the other requirements such as a statement that the super fund is a complying fund and instructions on how your employer is able to make a contribution on your behalf (refer to the standard choice form for information on these requirements).

So have a think about where your super is going, and if you think it’s time for a change…make the choice!

P.S. For any small business who feel the choice of super fund concept creates additional burden…have a read of our previous post Policies and Procedures, and contact The Tax Chic for assistance.

Regards

*Super = superannuation

Every business or organisation, no matter how big or how small…should have a manual of policies and procedures.

Policies are usually simple statements setting out how your business or organisation will conduct itself.  They don’t need to be long or complicated, just a guide to help with decision making.

Procedures are usually more detailed as they are the roadmap for implementing the policies of your business or organisation.  Procedures should include details of who does what, the steps required and include templates of any documents or forms which should be used.

A manual of policies and procedures is an important tool for a number of reasons:

– they give a workplace structure and a means for employees to measure their own performance

– they provide guidance and can be used in situations of training new staff or as a reference material for when “the boss is away”

– they can assist in times of emergency (professional, personal or natural disaster) to help keep a workplace operational

Small businesses may find standard policies and procedures on their state government business website, and non-profit organisations can access templates from a number of community websites…these can usually be adapted as required but provide a good starting point (much better than staring at a blank page!)

With particular emphasis on the area of finance – if you’d like to conduct a review of policies and procedures (either those already implemented or to look at what might be missing) within your business or organisation, or you’d like to introduce a policy and procedure manual, please contact The Tax Chic to arrange a consultation.

Regards

It’s Frivolous Friday!

One of my guilty pleasures is curling up on the couch with a hot drink or a glass of wine and watching a DVD.

I don’t watch a lot of television, in fact I find I go through stages where I don’t have much time to watch television, and it’s almost impossible to be home at the same time every week to watch the same show (and I’m yet to invest in a recorder as I can’t convince myself that I would remember to watch the shows I’ve recorded!)

So instead, I often turn to DVD’s of TV shows so I can watch an episode here and there when I have time…when Frivolous Friday calls, I’ll let you know what it is I’m watching…currently it’s one of my favourites…One Tree Hill…

Set in Tree Hill, North Carolina, One Tree Hill follows the lives of Lucas and Nathan Scott (…brothers to different mothers), along with their friends Haley, Brooke and Peyton.

Over the course of nine seasons…it starts in high school and follows them to graduation…then jumping ahead to the post college years, we meet them again as adults.

At times (OK, a lot of the time…) it’s far fetched and not realistic…but quite often it touches on some very important subjects (teen pregnancy, suicide, marriage, divorce, death and business…to name a few).

At the end of the day, if a TV show or a movie is mildly entertaining and can take me to another place, even if just for an hour or two, I’m pretty happy…so I’ve just put Season One back in the DVD player, and I’ll work my way through to Season Nine, that’ll keep me occupied!

Has anyone seen One Tree Hill?  Your thoughts?

Regards