Tonight sees the annual Powercor Business Excellence Awards being held for the Warrnambool region.

The presentation gala is at Warrnambool’s Lighthouse Theatre and I’m looking forward to an entertaining evening being inspired by local business owners!

The categories to be awarded are:

• Retail Business
• Professional Service
• Health and Wellbeing
• Micro Business
• Manufacturing, Trade & Utilities
• New Business/New Business Owner Under 5 Years
• Business Innovation
• Franchise
• Community/Government Enterprise
• Young Professional of the Year
• Professional of the Year
• Customer Service of the Year
• Volunteer of the Year

You can read a list of the nominees here.

I am aware that similar award ceremonies are held across the state including Geelong, Bendigo, Shepparton and Melton to name a few.  I would encourage all business owners to enquire of their local Council and make an effort to nominate for future awards, it’s a fantastic way to generate interest in your business and to showcase your region’s best!

After some encouragement…LMB Consulting/The Tax Chic have nominated for the 2014 awards – and I can now let you all know from experience that the process is very rewarding.

For a business owner, it forces you to take a step outside your day to day operations and look at your business from a different angle, something that is necessary, but that we don’t always find the time to do.

I thoroughly enjoyed the interview process and have taken much away from that meeting – so I’m already a winner!

I’d like to congratulate all of tonight’s nominees, I hope you have a great time!

Regards

Warning, warning – there may be a rant coming up!

I admit that I am very appreciative of great customer service (a shout out here to the wonderful girls who make my coffee on a daily basis), and I often wonder how it is possible for many businesses to stay afloat given the way they sometimes treat their customers – here comes the rant!

If you keep tabs on me via Facebook, then you will be aware that my luggage did not arrive back in the country earlier this week (in fact ALL our luggage – four suitcases and two sets of golf clubs)!

In all honesty, I’m not really that fussed about this…it could have happened on the way to our holiday (and my mood would probably have been a bit different if that was the case…) but there isn’t anything in my luggage that I desperately need, it’s merely an inconvenience of sorts (my younger brother will probably disagree…he really wanted his golf clubs so he could play a couple of rounds this week while still on holidays…)

What has irritated me though, is the lack of communication and customer service in relation to the matter.

I’m not feeling so mad that I need to “name and shame” – however, despite the plane being held up before take-off,  at no point were we advised either during the flight, on arrival in Melbourne or while we waited patiently at the baggage carousels, that our luggage did not board the same flight – there was no announcement, no customer service representative…nothing – we were left to our own devices to work out that something was amiss – and it wasn’t just us, there were a number of bags left behind – why? We don’t know…

I e-mailed the company in question yesterday morning, and their automatically generated response informed me that they would attempt to reply to my enquiry “within 10 business days” – what??

At this stage I’m yet to receive a reply – we do not know why our bags were left behind and we do not know when we will be reunited.

The moral to the story….communication is key because as a customer, being left in the dark is not fun!

Regards

…for tax purposes?

In case you haven’t noticed, The Tax Chic has been holidaying in Fiji – such a beautiful part of the world…and it got me thinking about the number of Fijians who have relocated to Australia (as well as the New Zealanders, the British, the Americans and so on…welcome to our multi-cultural society!)

Did you know that there are different rates of income tax applicable to taxpayers, depending on their residency status?

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) also views residency a little differently from other government agencies who deal with things like immigrations, visas and citizenship.

If you:

• have always lived in Australia
• have moved to Australia to live here permanently
• have been in Australia for more than half of the financial year (unless your usual home is overseas and you do not intend to live in Australia)
• have been in Australia continuously for six months or more and have been living in the one place, in the one job;

…then you will be considered an Australian resident for tax purposes.

However if these don’t apply to you, you may be considered a “non-resident” for tax purposes – you can check out the Residency Tests on the ATO website.  There are different tests to help you determine your residency status, based on whether you are arriving in Australia, or departing from – hopefully this will clarify things for you!

Oh, and you can find the tax rates here.

Regards

It’s “Frivolous Friday” and I don’t want to brag or anything…but this has been my morning view for the past few days…bliss!

I’ve got the family with me and we’re having a little break from our normal day to day business activities, and taking in the delights of beautiful Fiji.

I’ve not got much to report, but so far we’ve had a drink by the beach, a drink by the pool, a drink in the pool…and another drink by the pool…I think you get my drift!  However, we did take a beak from the water to drive over to the Natadola Bay Golf Course for a round, spectacular views indeed!

On this occasion, we’re staying at The Sheraton, which allows us to use the facilities of all the Sheraton owned resorts which are located next to one another along the coast…and by the time you read this we will have returned from a visit to the Port Denarau Marina…having said all that, we are pretty much ready for bed by 8pm…exhausted from relaxing!

The people of Fiji are so friendly and accommodating, it is always a pleasure to visit, and I’ll certainly be back…but for now it’s back to the poolside (bar that is…!)

PS this post is not sponsored by any of the establishments mentioned, I just wanted to share my trip with you..xo

Regards