Earlier this week I was pleased to combine my role of Treasurer of the Warrnambool and District Community Hospice Inc (WDCHI) with the role of MC at the launch of their “Hospice in the Home” project.

The WDCHI was established in 2010 with the intention to bring “hospice care” to those in need in the Warrnambool area.

The President of the WDCHI, Dr Eric Fairbank, presented some alarming facts at the launch, including:

• 85% of people die from a chronic illness (such as cancer, organ failure, frailty and dementia)
• 70% of patients would prefer to die at home
• Less than 15% of patients actually do die at home

The reasons for not dying at home include not being prepared for death, not wanting to be a burden on family and friends, and the fact that end of life care is exhausting for carers.

The “Hospice in the Home” project is designed to supplement and collaborate with existing palliative care services, to provide end of life care to patients who have a primary carer available and have symptoms which are able to be managed at home.

This care will be provided by specially trained volunteers, under the supervision of a palliative care nurse consultant, and will give people who want to die at home a real chance of doing so.  At the same time family and friends will be supported and the burden on hospitals and nursing homes may be somewhat eased.

What a fabulous forward thinking initiative this is, I’m both proud and excited to be involved.

If you’d like to make a tax deductible donation to WDCHI, please send me a message and I will provide you with the relevant details.

Regards

No-one is immune to the notion of cost cutting – in my experience we all love a bargain…boy did I get a bargain at Myer on Saturday…but I digress!

Whether it’s your household budget or in the context of running a business, at some point most of us have reviewed our circumstances to cut costs.

The following 5 tips may be useful in many businesses, depending on their nature (and some can be used for personal cost cutting too)…I warn you that there will be some effort required on your part!  But if you are prepared to do a little work, you will no doubt be rewarded with the benefit of lower costs:

1. Review your telephone and internet bills and discuss your options with your provider (and compare with other providers also).  More often than not we are creatures of habit and simply pay these types of bills as they come in each month without realising there can be significant savings such as “less talk, more text” and group plans for business.
2. Similarly, review your utilities providers (gas and electricity) – it is sometimes possible to combine these with the same provider and receive generous discounts for prompt payment, just keep an eye on the individual rates.
3. Discuss options with suppliers for an early payment discount (your suppliers love being paid by you as much as you enjoy being paid by your customers!).
4. Consider purchasing non-perishable consumables in bulk to take advantage of lower unit prices.
5. Investigate the benefits of entering into a fuel card arrangement – while limiting your purchases to certain fuel outlets, they often come with a discount attached.

I hope that you can use some of these tips – does anyone have others they’d like to share?

Regards

They say time flies when you’re having fun…but where does it go?

Like most people, I am counting down the weeks until the end of the year, but it just seems to go by so fast…and 30th June feels like a lifetime ago!

I’m hoping by now that many of you reading this who are business owners have at least started to put together your “end of year package” for your accountant…as long as you’re on their lodgement list with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), you’ve still got plenty of time – however, if I have learnt one thing during my time as an accountant, it’s that the months fly by when we return from our Christmas break (we’ll be talking 2015 year end before we know it!)!

My advice to clients when preparing their “end of year package”, is to reconcile as much as they can and provide good quality supporting information – at the very least, this will reduce the amount of time your accountant needs to spend compiling your financial statements and reduce the queries they need to send you!

When preparing the financial statements, it is always necessary for the accountant to make adjustments to the clients figures, but one thing that is often overlooked at the end of the process – by clients and accountants – is performing an “end of year adjustment”.

An “end of year adjustment” will ensure that the computerised accounting system of the client agrees to the final financial statements as prepared by the accountant – and this provides a clear and clean start for the next financial year.

The good news is…The Tax Chic can help with all of the above – both preparing the package and performing the adjustment – even if you use another accountant, contact us if you would like some help with this!

Regards

Yesterday I took a leap of sporting faith and joined my local golf club (albeit a partial membership…but it’s a step in the right direction!)

I guess this means there’s now one more annual subscription to go with my memberships of Fitness Australia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand as well as the National Tax Accountants Association…

…the only sad thing is, that unlike the others…my golf club membership is not tax deductible!

In order to claim a tax deduction for memberships and subscriptions, the purchase must be made in the course of earning your income.  Any payments made which are private or domestic in nature are unable to be claimed as a tax deduction.

When considering the deductibility of memberships and subscriptions, you should split the amount between work related and private use if that is applicable, and you should remember that you cannot claim a tax deduction if the amount is reimbursed to you.

In my case, the golf club membership is clearly a private expense (I’m not quite at the stage of earning income from my golfing capabilities…) however the others I mentioned earlier all relate to my income earning capacity either in the fitness industry or as an accountant.

Regards