November/December 2005 Newsletter
Office closure over the Christmas period
The office will be closed from mid-day Thursday 22nd December and will reopen for business on Tuesday 3rd January, 2006.
The Partners and Team at ARM Financial Architects would like to wish all our clients and business associates a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.
Charli Morgan
China and India - Northeast Asia's newest economic powerhouses
Corporate Restructures - Tax Implications
Super splitting starts 1 Jan 2006
Wills & Adequacy for Beneficiaries
China and India – Northeast Asia's newest economic powerhouses
The rise in petrol prices remind us that we are part of a world economy. World ecomony growth will be close to 4% this year. Leading the race in economic growth is China with a 9% growth.
Where has this emergence come from?
China's economy is continuing to expand because consumers are spending more and investment in coalmines and railways are increasing. The economy has defied expectations for a slowdown in the past year as demand for mobile phones, restaurant meals and travel continue to surge.
Investment in coalmines jumped 77% in this first nine months of the year and investment in railway construction surged 41%. Overall fixed-asset investment, which accounts for more than a third of China's economy, increased 26.1%. Per capita disposable incomes in urban areas - home to about 40% of China's 1.3 billion people has risen 9.8%.
Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, and competitors such as Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications have been introducing handsets specifically aimed at China as they jostle for a position in a market that, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Information Industry, added 4.8 million mobile phone users in August alone. China had about 373 million users at the end of August, the biggest in the world.
A burgeoning upper class is also providing business opportunities for companies such as Bayerische Motoren Werke, the world's largest maker of luxury cars.
China's exports rose 25.9% last month and investment in real estate grew 22% in the first nine months of 2005.
Most businesses are increasingly aware of the way in which the rise of China is reshaping the international economic environment within which they operate. While this means that much attention has been focused, quite properly on developments in Northeast Asia's newest economic powerhouse, it is important not to neglect the implications of the emergence of another economic giant in South Asia: after decades of under-performance, India too is now starting to make its presence felt in global markets. Indeed, the potential for the emergence of India to reshape our international economic environment is one of the most striking - and exciting - stories in the world economy today.
The impact of well over a decade of economic reforms - sustained through several changes of government - is now visible in India's growth statistics: India has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
After years of output growth languishing at a rate of 3.5%, the economy has grown at an average rate of close to 6% over the past decade. Growth last year was even faster, with output climbing by more than 8% in the 2004 financial year, although this number was boosted by a particularly good monsoon, and some slowdown seems likely this year.
While this transformation in its growth performance is certainly worthy of attention, what has really caught the eye has been India's increasingly visible role in the global information technology (IT) sector, a development closely associated with the subcontinent's growing presence in the business of offshore outsourcing. Thus one particularly striking feature of India's recent economic history is the key role played by services and Indian firms now control over half of the global IT and back office outsourcing market. In other words India is now competing in areas once thought to be the preserve of the developed world.
Despite some risks and uncertainties, India is on track to be an increasingly important player in the global economy. What will this mean?
At the most basic level, a more successful India will mean a higher standard of living for more than one billion Indians - an improvement that will benefit almost one in five of the world's population.
How does this impact Australia?
The impact is already visible in the data. Australian exports to India have grown by more than 400% over the past decade, making India one of our fastest growing export markets. In 2003-04 alone Australian exports to India rose at an annual rate of more than 80%, helping turn India into our seventh largest export market (accounting for roughly 4.5% of total exports, or almost the same as the United Kingdom). The importance of this bilateral trading relationship is set to grow, with knock-on effects for political and security ties.
The good news for Australia, then, is that recent history has shown our economy repeatedly benefiting from the emergence of new Asian economic players.
ARM together with the Greater Dandenong Chambers of Commerce sponsored a Golf Day at Sandhurst Golf Club, Skye. ARM had a very succesful day with one of our 11 teams winning the tournament. Around 140 players participated in the Ambrose Four Competition.
We congratulate the winners: Joe Sibilia (ARM Finance), Geoff Izon (CBA), Damian Burl (Mortgagese), Rohan Ford (Linx Finance). Mrs Jeraldine Evans from Lumen Australia (an ARM client) was awarded with Nearest The Pin on the 13th hole. Well done Jeraldine.
We would like to thank Deanne from the Dandenong Chamber of Commerce for organising the day.
Corporate Restructures – Tax ImplicationsOver the last couple of years many public companies have restructured or returned funds to shareholders, with resultant tax consequences.
In 2004 News Corporation Limited moved its operations from Australia to the United States of America and a restructure occurred. Existing shares in News Corp were cancelled and new shares issued.
The action on 12th November 2004 has tax consequences for the 2005 year. Cancellation of shares has a Capital Gains Tax effect if you acquired the shares after 19th September 1985, and the acquisition of the new shares requires a calculation of cost.
Many tax payers will assume that because they have had no dividend, there is no need to provide information at the time of preparing their 2005 income tax return. That is not the case. We suggest that you provide details of the shares before and after the restructure for us to calculate the tax results.
A recent article in The Australian newspaper highlighted the 10 most common mistakes in making a will, as follows:
- Failing to make a will in the first place. This results in assets being divided up according to state legislation.
- Not keeping the will up-to-date. This is particularly important as new children or grandchildren are born; when persons die; or in the event of a marriage breakdown.
- Failure to understand the impact of marriage and divorce. In some states, marriage may revoke a will, but divorce may not.
- Do It Yourself wills. The legal costs of mistakes (which are common) can be significant.
- Not executing the will properly. By not signing, dating or witnessing a will correctly, delays may occur or the will may be deemed to be invalid.
- Appointing the wrong executor(s). The nominated person should be able to deal with legal matters and family disputes.
- Appoint the wrong trustee. Family or friends appointed as trustee may often be out of their depth.
- Poor tax planning. This is usually as a result of failing to seek professional estate planning advice.
- Impact of second marriages. This generally effects the children from each marriage, with the beneficiaries often determined by which spouse dies first.
- Disputes over sentimental items. Any specific items should always be explicitly recorded in the will.
Whilst accountants are not specialists in this field, we can offer guidance or recommendation of a suitable will preparer.
Individual taxpayers
This year the Tax Office expects to scrutinise, through their risk analysis, over 750,000 individual taxpayers. Main targets this year will be:
Capital gains on the sale of:- rental properties;- vacant land;- holiday homes; and- shares and managed fund investments.·Rental income and expensesDeductions for work expensesOccupations in the firing line:- Construction tradespeople including plasterers, roof tilers, painter decorators and plumbers.- Food processing and preparation workers – butchers, abattoir workers and chefs.- Dance, drama and music instructors.- School teachers and academics.- Health care professionals.
Example – Property sales not declared
The Tax Office gave the following example of the kind of non-compliance they are targeting and that they run into.
A husband and wife partnership in Victoria bought land and built homes for resale for several years.
The GST input tax credits they claimed for the 2003/04 year were higher than previous years and their income varied significantly from similar types of businesses.
The ATO checked property records and found the couple had not declared income on five property sales.
This resulted in a GST shortfall of $186,145 and an $83,390 penalty. They also failed to report other income in partnership returns resulting in an income tax shortfall of $358,090 and a $179,045 penalty.
The problem with coming to the ATO's attention is that it can lead to other problem areas.
Cash economy – target occupations
This year, the ATO's cash economy investigations will focus on:
· Building and construction industries.· Mortgage and loan brokers offering low doc (low documentation) loans.· Restaurants, cafes and take-away food outlets.· Motor vehicle wholesalers and retailers.· Licensed hotels and registered clubs.· The adult industry.· Bartering arrangements.· Horse racing industry.· Fishing industry.· Tourism operators.
Cash economy and the building and construction industries
The ATO says it will be paying particular attention to building and construction businesses that reduce their taxable income by not reporting cash received from householders.
Some of the techniques the ATO uses to catch such businesses include:
· matching the amount of materials used to income declared;· matching appointment and quote books to invoices for consumer transactions;· tracing owner-builder transactions with tradespeople, using local council records;· checking the accounts of trade outlets with the businesses that use them; and· checking local papers for cash operators and businesses operating outside the tax system.
Super splitting starts 1 Jan 2006
The Government has introduced the Superannuation Splitting Bill (under which contributions are allowed to be ‘split’ or shared with a spouse) to Parliament.
It says that "This will allow non-working or low income spouses to accumulate their own superannuation, and gives families more choices in how they prepare for their retirement."
The start date has been brought forward to 1 January 2006 – meaning that contributions made on or after that date will be able to be split where funds offer this service to their members.
Reducing red tape on business
The Treasurer has appointed a Taskforce to cut red tape and find practical solutions to reduce the compliance burden on business from Government regulation.
The Taskforce's main object will be to provide practical options to alleviate the Commonwealth’s (and States') ‘red tape’ burden on business, including family-run and other small businesses.
The Taskforce will consult closely with business groups and other stakeholders.
For clients who are interested, the Website address is www.regulationtaskforce.gov.au.
The Government also intends to introduce a new annual review process to examine the cumulative stock of Australian Government regulation and identify an annual red tape reduction agenda.
The Government has introduced legislation that goes some way to helping businesses that forget to pay their employees' superannuation on time.
Currently, employers who make a late contribution to a super fund are still bound to make that payment on behalf of the employee but, in addition, must pay the non-deductible superannuation guarantee charge (SGC) to the Australian Taxation Office.
Under the new legislation, employer contributions made for an employee to a super fund within one month of the superannuation guarantee due date can be used to offset the SGC for the quarter that relates to that employee.
Unfortunately, such late payments will not be tax deductible.Interest and dividend checksEach year the ATO runs an income matching program whereby information supplied by:· banks;· other financial institutions;· companies;· Centrelink; and· employers;is matched with taxpayers’ returns to check that interest and dividends (including distributions from managed funds) are correctly reported.
Last year around 36 million records were matched raising additional revenue of $176 million from some 320,000 taxpayers who had failed to report income. The ATO expects to match 40 million records this year.
Please Note: Many of the comments in this publication are general in nature and anyone intending to apply the information to practical circumstances should seek professional advice to independently verify their interpretation and the information's applicability to their particular circumstances.
Superannuation & Retirement – A New Condition of Release
From July 1 2005, superannuation schemes are allowed to release superannuation benefits to a member who has reached their preservation age (55 to 60 depending upon the person’s date of birth) provided the benefit is taken in a restricted manner as a pension.
This new condition of release will give members access to their benefits once they reach preservation age, even if they are still working.
Under these measures there is no work test and there is no capping the amount of benefits a person can access.
Members using these new rules can use existing pension products such as allocated pensions or market linked pensions.
This new rule does not change the existing conditions of release on superannuation benefits, it merely adds an additional condition of release added to those already existing. The benefits may only be taken as a non-commutable income stream.
The new condition of release provides additional flexibility to workers moving into the transition to retirement phase, enabling them to supplement a reduced income or maximise their retirement benefits by drawing a tax-effective pension income and then salary sacrificing.
This option does not have to be offered by all superannuation funds. However, large superannuation funds have already launched products to take advantage of the new rules.
Wills and Adequacy for Beneficiaries A recent decision in the Supreme Court of Victoria reinforces the need for wills to have consideration for all family, particularly dependents.
A great many Victorians will remember a former Melbourne Lord Mayor and Journalist Peter Costigan. His will divided his estate between his defacto wife and two children. Quite significantly, it made no provision for his disabled son (aged 40) who had cerebral palsy and epilepsy since birth. That son had been cared for by the state and lived in an institution since he was two years old.
In a challenge to the adequacy of the will, the Supreme Court decided that the will did not make adequate provision for the son.
Nor did it make adequate provision for the defacto spouse, because she couldn’t acquire the matrimonial home that she and Peter Costigan had shared. The court granted her the title to the property free of any encumbrance. After that allocation, the remaining assets, which were less than $100,000, were allocated for the care of the disabled child. The two (adult) other children were financial secure in their own rights and received nothing in the amended orders.
Challenges to wills occur in many more cases than get to court.
The making of a will is not a simple process and it is not something that can be taken easily and lightly, nor can be dealt with in a five minute instruction to a suburban solicitor. It often needs assistance from your tax adviser, accountant, and financial adviser working with a suitably qualified solicitor. A will-maker needs to deal (only) with the assets owned by them and careful consideration for dependents and avoidance of subsequent legal challenge.
Directors of corporate trustees can breathe a sigh of relief.
An amendment has been made to the Corporations Act 2001 to clarify the potential personal liability of the directors of corporate trustees, in light of the decision in Hanel v O’Neill [2003] SASC 409.
The court held in that case that directors of corporate trustees could be personally liable in any case where there are insufficient assets to discharge the liabilities of the trust. The amendment puts directors of corporate trustees in the same position as other directors, and should improve certainty for the directors of all corporate trustees, from large superannuation trusts through to trading trusts running a small business.
Reduction in amendment periods
The Government has introduced legislation to reduce amendment periods for a majority of taxpayers.
This measure will reduce amendment periods from four years to two years for most individuals and small business taxpayers, subject to some exclusions, such as for taxpayers involved in tax avoidance schemes, or where there are transactions involved where it will take longer than usual for the Tax Office to collect the information it needs (e.g., because of delays in obtaining or confirming information from overseas). This measure will apply to amendments of assessments for the 2004/05 income year and subsequent years.
The changes will also give taxpayers with nil and loss assessments (i.e., where no tax is payable), the same amount of time to amend their returns (or have them amended).
Deductible amounts can be included in asset’s cost base if cannot amend
The Tax law requires any amount which "can" be deducted to be excluded from that asset's cost base when working out CGT – even if the taxpayer did not claim the deduction.
This often occurs with capital works deductions (or the "building write-off"). For example, when selling a building, a taxpayer may need to exclude from the building's cost base any amounts of capital works deductions they could have claimed on the building, even if they did not claim them at the time.
However, a new ATO determination accepts that an amount "cannot" be deducted and, therefore, may be included in the cost base of an asset where:
· it was an allowable deduction; but· the taxpayer is unable to claim the deduction because the period for amending the relevant tax return has expired.
However, if the amendment period has not yet expired, the taxpayer is expected to go back and amend the prior return to claim the deduction.
“Low doc loan” insurance data matching program
The ATO has advised that it will request and collect names and addresses of entities who have taken out insurance on “low doc loans” from the following Australian mortgage insurance providers:
· Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ);· G E Mortgage Insurance Company Propriety Ltd;· PMI Mortgage Insurance Ltd;· St George Bank Ltd;· Suncorp-Metway Ltd; and· Westpac Banking Corporation.
The information obtained will be electronically matched with other data held by the ATO.
Super tax savings for 55+ taxpayers
The Tax Office has issued a media release which contains a largely unexpected bonus for taxpayers who are still working and over the age of 55. It relates to the Government’s “transition to retirement pensions” measure, which allows taxpayers to draw down from their super fund while continuing to work after they turn 55.
The media release accepts that taxpayers will be able to salary sacrifice their salary into their super fund and draw out a pension from the same fund – deferring tax and potentially delivering huge tax savings over time for those who don't need their larger than average income.
The Tax Office will only be concerned where accessing the pension or undertaking the salary sacrifice may be artificial or contrived.
Example – Pension top-up required
Jack is 56 and is on a wage of $100,000. He decides to salary sacrifice $37,000 of his salary into his superannuation fund to bring his salary income down to $63,000 so that his income is taxed at no more than 31.5% ($63,000 is the threshold before the next higher rate of 42% applies).
Tax on entry of the contribution into the super fund is 15% of $37,000 or $5,550.
However, Jack has more commitments and requires a net after tax income of $54,000, so he needs to draw down a pension of $10,000 (and his super fund allows him to do this).
In that case, his tax payable is calculated as follows:
Tax on $73,000 (63K + 10K) $18,960Plus Medicare Levy 1,095Tax & M/Levy $20,055Less 15% Rebate on pension 1,500Tax Payable $18,555
Total tax payable:Super fund $5,550Jack's individual tax 18,555 $24,105
Had Jack received the full $100,000 in his own name, tax payable would have been $32,050. By bringing the tax rate on his earnings down, Jack has been able to leave his tax saving of $7,945 ($32,050 – $24,105) in his super fund.
Note: The following should be kept in mind:· the above example does not take into account additional costs in the super fund, etc.;· employees are entitled to salary sacrifice the whole of their salary; however, employers are only entitled to deductions up to the age based limit. For 55+ taxpayers, the age based limit for 2005/06 is $100,587;· the 15% superannuation pension rebate cannot reduce the Medicare levy;· superannuation funds that commence paying pensions become exempt from tax on assets supporting the pension ("segregated pension assets"). However, other investment income or contributions are not exempt; and· income must be high enough for direct tax savings to occur. However, taxpayers on incomes of less than $63,000 may wish to undertake the above strategy to lock in the value of assets supporting a pension and reduce the tax in their super fund. Also, appreciation in the value of segregated pension assets is ignored for RBL purposes.
Please Note: Many of the comments in this publication are general in nature and anyone intending to apply the information to practical circumstances should seek professional advice to independently verify their interpretation and the information's applicability to their particular circumstances.
ARM enjoyed a family Christmas Party at Dennis Malcolm's property on 27th November. Team members children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews had a wonderful time riding horses, having canoe rides, tractor rides, playing in the jumping castle and of course the highlight of the day was seeing Father Christmas who gave all the children very generous gifts. Thanks to Dennis and his family for a wonderful day.
Michael Forer is currently on holidays and is visting Los Angelos, San Francisco, New York, London, Riga, Tallinn, Stockholm. We are looking forward to catching up with all his holiday stories and photos. Merry Christmas Michael, we will see you in the new year.
Leka Ameti was lucky enough to catch the success of the Socceroos first hand. What a game and what a great atmostphere. It is always nice to be cheering for the winning side.
Irene Packer will become a grandmother for the 6th time in February.
Nathan Batty will enjoy Uncle status for the first time in June. Good luck "Uncle Nathan"....
We look forward to Emma Davis' return early in the new year, after the birth of her 3rd baby.
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in and out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn’t always fair, and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when we intentioned by overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six year old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Panadol, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student; but, could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment that their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a women failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceeded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I know My Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I’m A Victim.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone. If you still remember him pass this on. If not join the majority and do nothing?
Source: Segue Portfolio Partners
With sincere appreciation for your friendship and your business, we extend to you our very best wishes for the Holidays and the New Year. May success be yours in 2006.