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12 minute read
LOCAL STORIES
HELPING THOSE IN NEED
By Warren Strybosch
With food and petrol prices on the rise and now interest rates putting pressure on new homeowners, people are starting to find it hard to put food on the table.
Already, we are hearing stories of families having to go without. With likely interest rate rises continuing to occur this will place even more pressure on those families already struggling to obtain the essentials they require to get by on a day-to-day basis.
In this month’s edition we have tried to find some organisations in the local area who may be able to help those families doing it really tough and require some additional support. Started on page 14, we list some of these organisations that are providing food relief, a community meal, and/or shelter for the night.
We want to thank these organsiations for the work they do in looking after our community.
The great Australian dream of home ownership is being realised by fewer young people than it was half a century ago.
Data collected in the latest Census shows the home ownership rate of people aged 30 to 34-years-old sat at 50 per cent in 2021, a drop of 14 per cent since 1971.
For those aged 25 to 29, the decrease was also 14 per cent over the same period, dropping to 36 per cent in 2021.
Some of those people aged below 30 who owned their own home in the 1970s are among the Aussies with the highest rate of ownership in 2021. Baby Boomers – those born between 1946 and 1964 – make up the highest rate (82 per cent) of home owners in 2021. The data released on Tuesday by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare was drawn from information gathered in the latest Census, including that there were nearly 9.8 million households in 2021. Of those, 67 per cent were occupied by “owners”, with roughly half of those subject to mortgage. About a third of households, or 2.9 million, are occupied by renters.
“There has been a sharper increase in the proportion of young Australians renting compared with older Australians,” the institute said as part of its data release.
Youngsters Missing Out On Australian Dream
By Nick Gibbs (Australian Associated Press)
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Are you an Established and experienced Financial Planner providing Aged Care Advice?
Find Aged Care Services is seeking professional ‘aged care’ accredited financial planners to provide advice to those seeking aged care advice in their local area. Are you accredited and can help work with clients to find the best aged care options? Are you able to work with their loved ones and help make the process of transitioning into aged care less daunting and complex? If so, consider listing on our website.
List with us, and we will get you promoted through our website, social media, and local community papers.
Why not consider joining the Find Network as a specialist Aged Care advisor and obtain referral leads from the rest of the Find Network members in your area?
To learn more about these new opportunities, contact Warren on 1300 88 38 30 or email info@findagedcare.services visit our website at www.findagedcare.services
Financial Planning Complaints Trending Down
By Warren Strybosch
With all the changes that have occurred in the financial planning profession, it was good to note that there was nearly a 50% reduction in complaints in the 2022 FY compared to the 2021 FY relating to ‘Failure to act in the client’s best interests’ and ‘Inappropriate advice’.
The evidence from AFCA (the external resolution board that handles financial planning complaints) provides us with a clear picture: The changes that have occurred over the past few years e.g. introduction of the FASEA Code of Ethics and increased education standards, have indeed had a positive impact for consumers.
I believe we are moving in the right direction as a profession. (Source: AFCA)
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Fraser Island to go the way of Ayers Rock
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Nick Gibbs (Australian Associated Press)
It’s hoped Fraser Island will follow the lead of Uluru and only be known by it’s Indigenous name, as the Queensland government flags an official name change.
The proposal will take a step forward this week as two months of public consultation begin, Resources Minister Scott Stewart said on Wednesday.
He hopes the process will lead to the Indigenous name of K’gari entering the common vernacular in the same way Uluru has replaced Ayers Rock.
“No one calls it Ayers Rock any more, they call it Uluru, and it’s about respecting our First Nations people, and about respecting the connection they have with this land,” Mr Stewart said. “(For) 60,000 years they’ve been calling it K’gari, I think it’s about time we started to do exactly the same.”
The reinstatement of K’gari as the island’s name has been a long time coming, chair of the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation Aunty Gayle Minniecon said.
“It means so much to the Butchulla people,” she said.
“For us it’s about respect for our people. It’s important for us to let our ancestors know that our culture is still strong and we continue to care for our country.”
The consultation follows the island’s world heritage area being renamed K’gari last year, Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon said “K’gari means paradise in the Butchulla language and as a popular destination for its natural beauty, is a much more fitting name for such an iconic place,” Ms Scanlon said.
“The name Fraser Island is culturally inappropriate – it is a tribute to Eliza Fraser, a woman whose narrative directly led to the massacre and dispossession of the Butchulla people.”
K’gari was originally known by Europeans as Great Sandy Island before it was changed to Fraser Island after Scotswoman Eliza Fraser was shipwrecked there in 1836.
While the World Heritage Area became K’gari last year, the official place name for the world’s largest sand island had yet to change.
Rental properties – An ATO focus area for 2022 returns
By Warren Strybosch
The ATO has issued a release stating that rental properties are one of its four main focus areas for the 2022 returns now being submitted. The ATO urged rental property owners to ensure they carefully review their records before declaring income or claiming deductions. The release highlights common pitfalls, including the importance of keeping adequate records.
Assistant Commissioner Tim Loh noted that the ATO’s Random Enquiry Program found that nine out of 10 tax returns that reported rental income contained at least one error. This is despite most of those property owners being assisted by a registered tax agent. While tax agents can only work with the information they gather from clients, the ATO said it expects agents to ask a few extra questions to ensure their client’s return is completed correctly.
Cats
Curfew
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By Jodie Moore
There appears to be a growing trend amongst Melbourne councils to bring in stricter policies when it comes to cat ownership. In April 2022, Knox Council implemented a 24/7 ban on domestic cats leaving their owner’s property. There will be a 6 month grace period where only warnings will be issued but then this will change to a $91 fine for first time offences, then jump to $545 for subsequent breaches starting in October 2022.
In July 2023, Bass Coast Shire Council will also implement a 24/7 ban on cats straying from their owners property. They intend to have a 12 month education drive in the lead up to this ban. Manningham Council have announced that they will be implementing a trial 24/7 ban but have not yet announced a date for this. The general consensus for this growing trend is to protect the wildlife with a side note about protecting the cats themselves from injury and illness. Protecting the wildlife is important and a night curfew will help with this, but I think it is up to the cat’s owner to worry about illness and injury. However, what about the
consequences? Many outdoor cats help to keep the rodent population down. Will we suddenly see a spike in rats and mice throughout these Councils and neighbouring councils, potentially causing much bigger problems? There doesn’t appear to have been much thought given as to how local households will be able to implement this. Simply building a cat run or enclosing your property in a high fence will be costly (and potentially unsightly) and prohibit many low-income families from doing this. Locking cats up, particularly older cats that are used to being outside seems cruel and is no better than locking up a wild animal in a cage at the zoo. Families who are renting will likely be unable to get permission from their landlord to build an enclosure as well. Will this lead to a lot of cats having to be rehomed because the families can’t afford to catproof their property?
As I am sure you can guess, I do have a cat. She is a beautiful tortoiseshell DMH who loves being outside as well as inside. We have a number of cats in our street, and once they established their pecking order, they all seem to get on really well and we quite often find one or two other cats sitting near or in our front yard a couple of metres from our cat. Although they don’t sit together, it appears they still like the company of each other. We ensure our cat comes inside overnight, as do our neighbours and often that means she has to come in by 4pm in the summer otherwise she hides from us so she can stay out. Our house also doesn’t get a lot of sunshine inside throughout the day so she would miss out on that precious light if we were to keep her in 24/7.
What are your thoughts on a 24/7 ban on cats leaving their owners property? Email us at editor@findgeelong.com.au and we’ll publish your comments next month.
Sole Traders – the ATO will now pass information on to Credit providers
ACCOUNTANT
By Warren Strybosch
If you are a sole trader, you have not had to worry too much about any debts owing to the ATO. You would simply be placed on a payment plan and pay off what you can when you can. However, this is has now changed and the ATO is taking a harder stance against those business owners who owe money to the ATO.
The ATO will now inform credit provides of debts larger than $100,000. This will have an impact on sole traders and partners seeking any type of finance e.g., home loan, investment loan or car finance, in the future.
General manager of technical policy at the IPA, Tony Greco, said the move could provide a more even playing field for businesses.
“There are pluses and minuses, the pluses are it makes it more transparent that the market and all credit providers, including trade credit, get to see what level of debt the business has and it provides an extra impetus to that client to engage with the tax office,” said Mr Greco.
“If you’ve got one business compliant and another not compliant then that’s an unfair advantage, so it promotes fairness in the tax system.”
The change applies only to sole traders with ATO debts that meet certain criteria. “The rules are currently that it has to be over $100,000 and has to be related to a business debt and it also has to be when the business is basically not responding to current attempts to put it on the payment plan or to pay it,” said Mr Greco.
The ATO said that a business or sole trader effectively engaging with it would not be subject to CRB referral, even if the debt exceeded $100,000.
The ATO said effective engagement involved having:
• A payment plan and complying with the terms of the arrangement • An application for release from the tax debt • An active objection against a tax decision to which the debt related • An active review with the AAT or an active appeal to the court • An active review with the AAT of a reviewable decision that might affect the amount of a non-complying superannuation fund’s tax debt with the relevant regulator • An active complaint with the IGTO in relation to the tax debt. Mr Greco said the ATO used the ability to disclose tax debt information to CRBs as a tool to influence businesses to take their debt seriously.
“A lot of businesses treat the ATO as the lender of last resort so just don’t pay it,” he said. “When money becomes tight businesses just stop paying one of their creditors, and the easiest one is the ATO.
“A credit rating is very important if you are highly leveraged, therefore this ability to provide this information so all can see is the thing that sometimes gets people to take note of the debt because it starts to impact their ability to finance their operations.”
Mr Greco said the IPA wanted to see the ATO customise its approach for each business.
“Tax debts are a big problem and it has blown out for a good reason, the tax office was giving businesses a bit more leeway during COVID which was understandable,” he said.
“We’ve always asked for a tailored approach so if a business has been caught up in negative COVID scenarios then they [the ATO] should go soft, but if other businesses have thrived during COVID the tax office should go hard.”
Before disclosing a tax debt to CRBs, the ATO said it would send a written notice to the business that included steps that could be taken to avoid the information from being reported.
As a sole trader it is important to work with your accountant and/or tax agent to make sure you can meet your meet your obligations going forward. That might mean setting up separate bank accounts to keep track of your GST, PAGW, and Super owing, so you have enough funds to pay those amounts when they fall due.
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At Find Accountant, we provide SMSF tax advice. Our senior accountant is also an award-winning financial advisor. If you require SMSF advice or are considering whether or not to wind up your SMSF, then speak to Warren Strybosch at Find Accountant Pty Ltd.
Warren Strybosch
You can call them on 1300 88 38 30 or email