• Selling a property in Australia (including foreign resident vendors)
• Sale, cancellation, surrender or redemption of investments (such as shares, units, etc)
• Becoming a non-resident for tax purposes
• Loss or destruction of an asset

Yes, there are ways.

If you are eligible, capital gains tax (“CGT”) general concessions, small business concessions and/or other CGT concessions may apply to partially or fully reduce the capital gain made on sale of your Australian business. For Australian individuals, there may also be strategies using superannuation depending on their own circumstances. We recommend getting tax and financial advice as early in the sales process as possible so that issues such as whether to sell shares or business assets can be included in negotiations.

It is important nonetheless to set up your business structure right at the beginning in order to maximise any tax concessions or exemptions which should be available to you when you eventually sell your business. To restructure your business, CGT rollovers or small business restructure relief may be available to you.

You can claim expenses relating to your rental property, but only for the period your property was rented or available for rent. For example, advertising for rent, bank charges, body corporate fees, cleaning, council rates, gardening, insurance, interest, land tax, and property agent fees.

Taxpayers often miss out on maximising their negative gearing benefits by not being aware or not claiming tax deductions for items such as depreciation on building and/or new fixtures/fittings. The Australian Taxation Office (“ATO”) actively audits rental properties to ensure capital works and depreciating assets are claimed correctly.

The taxation treatment of ESS shares and options can be complex.

If you are an employee, your employer should provide you with an annual statement showing the value of any discount you received from the grant of ESS shares and/or options to you during an income year. Depending on the ESS terms and conditions, you may be able to defer paying tax on the discount until the shares / options are fully vested in you (or in the case of a start-up company, until they are sold).

If you are an employer, we can calculate the discount on ESS shares and/or options and determine the taxing points for purposes of preparing your employees’ annual statements, and annual report for lodgement with the ATO.

Fringe benefits tax (“FBT”) is payable on non-cash benefits provided to employees for private purposes. There are a number of fringe benefits that can form part of a tax-effective salary package, including motor vehicles, relocation costs, in-house benefits (e.g. free goods) and living-away-from-home allowances (up to 12 months). The benefits from salary packaging have reduced over time, so careful consideration needs to be taken here.

GST is a broad-based tax of 10% on most goods, services and other items sold.

If your business turnover is AU$75,000 or more, you must register and charge and remit the GST on your taxable supplies to the ATO. For non-profit organisations, the registration turnover threshold is AU$150,000 or more.

In addition, there are a number of exempt supplies such as:

• GST-free supplies
• Export of goods and services
• Sale of a going concern
• Transactions within a GST consolidated group

Payroll tax is a monthly tax levied on business if its monthly wages exceed a tax-free limit for the relevant State.

When paying wages across multiple States, the tax-free limit is apportioned across the different States. You need to register for payroll tax in each State where wages exceed the tax-free threshold.

Parent and subsidiary companies, entities with common directors or employees, and commonly controlled businesses can be grouped for payroll tax purposes.

The R&D tax incentive is only available to companies and generally applies to R&D expenditure incurred in Australia (while overseas R&D expenditure can qualify only in limited circumstances).

If your company’s business is conducting R&D, it could be eligible for a cash refund or tax offset. To access the R&D tax incentive, you must register the eligible R&D activities in an application form, document your R&D plan and maintain adequate records.

Yes, there are a number of incentives for a start-up business including the Early Stage Innovation Company (ESIC) concessions that can provide investors with a 20% (non-refundable) tax rebate on their investment and 10 years CGT free on sale of their eligible shares, as well as the Entrepreneurs Tax Offset for individuals.