Here’s a post for visitors to Australia:

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) have developed a matching program for visa holders in conjunction with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP).  The aim of the program is to detect and deal with compliance risks within the population of visa holders.

In the interest of a fairer tax system, it is important for everyone to contribute according to the law, and this includes visa holders.

This data matching program will ensure that taxpayers are meeting their obligations, including registration, lodgement, reporting and payment responsibilities.  The information to be exchanged between the government bodies includes:

• address and contact history for visa applicants and sponsors
• information on all visa grants
• address and contact history for migration agents (who assisted or facilitated the processing of the visa)
• all international travel movements undertaken by visa holders (arrivals and departures); and
• details on education providers (i.e.: educational institutions where a student visa holder intends to undertake their study)

At present the ATO will be reviewing records of visas granted between 1 July 2013 – 30 June 2015, and then ongoing to 30 June 2017 – that’s estimated to be more than one million individuals.

If you are a visa holder and you haven’t met your obligations with the ATO, I recommend you contact me as soon as possible – the ATO always look favourably upon taxpayers who try to do the right thing before it’s too late!

Regards

Want to enter and record your bills quickly?  Xero is the answer!

With Xero, you can manage your cashflow by scheduling your bill payments, using the graph provided to see when suppliers are due to be paid.

Plus, if your suppliers also use Xero, they can send their invoices directly to your software to save data entry!

Payment with Xero can happen quickly by:

• utilising the batch payment option, you can pay a number of bills at the same time and have the payment automatically reconciled by Xero
• using the inventory option you can speed up your billing process and track inventory items you often purchase and sell
• providing your Xero Network Key to your suppliers so they can send your bills direct to your Xero file (note: you will still receive notification of these bills and need to approve them for payment)

Yet another great feature of Xero…be sure to Contact me if you would like to know more.

Regards

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!

A couple of nights ago saw the launch of Business in Heels – South West Victoria, and I am so pleased to let you know it was a success!

More than 60 lovely ladies from South West Victoria gathered at the Lady Bay Resort for a glass of bubbles and a canapé, and to listen to some very inspiring women…

We heard from former Warrnambool mayor, Glenys Phillpot, as well as local businesswomen Judy Rantall from Tidal Wave Total Fitness and Kristie Hayden from Logans Beach Spa Retreat – each with their own unique story to tell.

Three lucky ladies won a door prize each, one very stylish lady took home the much anticipated “best shoe” prize…and everyone left with a goodie bag of samples and offers from local businesses.

Most importantly, I was able to see these women connect with each other and I hope they will continue to use this platform to build their relationships, increase their skills and grow their businesses.

Please join us as a Crystal member by creating a profile on our website, and I hope you will consider joining us at our next event on Wednesday 9th December, 2015 (please e-mail: southwestvic@businessinheels.com to be added to our mailing list)

Until then, have fun with purpose!

Regards

In line with the new look website, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) have recently upgraded their small business App – have you had a look?

Available on both iTunes and Android, the App has been downloaded by more than 500,000 people (including me!), and provides a clean and modern look as well as increased functionality.

Some of the more useful features of the App include:

• ABN lookup – to verify the details of a business
• tax withheld calculator – which details the amount of tax to withhold from employee wages
• key dates – which can set reminders and alerts for tax and superannuation
• payment plan estimator – to assist you in paying off your tax debt
• report a concern – for suspected tax evasion

There’s also a new function in the App which is a business performance check tool, which can provide a snapshot of profitability, cash flow, working capital and debt serviceability and can compare the performance of a business against others in the same industry.

Take a look and let me know your thoughts…

Regards