Working Together

With sporting clubs working together it may open up new sporting challenges and provide opportunities for people to seek another club and take up a different sporting code.

Just think about the benefits that a potential sponsor could receive if their business was promoted by more than one sporting club.

Attractive sponsorship rates, a wider variety of sponsorship benefits, a larger target market and the potential for greater participation with club members.

Working together the non-competing clubs would be in a position to hold combined membership drives, conduct open days and undertake joint promotional activities.

Think it has merit – think your club could be interested? The Ringwood Bowls Club is ready to look at working together with other sporting clubs and is keen to get the ball rolling.

All it takes is a phone call and an initial meeting to discuss what needs to be done and how to go about it.

Why not get a representative from your club to give the Ringwood Bowls Club a call – pick up the phone and call Peter Horton on 0412 606 486 – what have you got to lose.

Neurodiversity Celebration Week: 13 -19 March 2023

Neurodiversity Celebration Week is a worldwide initiative that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences. Together, let’s change the narrative to understand, accept, and celebrate neurodiversity!

We're excited to present a week of great events at Croydon & Realm Libraries during Neurodiversity Celebration Week. Events include:

• Social morning for adults with Different Journeys (Croydon)

• Growing in to Autism with author Prof Sandra Thom-Jones (Croydon)

• Different Journeys information session (Croydon)

• Gently Gently Storytimes (Croydon & Realm)

• Games afternoon for children & teens with Different Journeys (Realm)

Accountant

By Warren Strybosch

New ATO rules you need to understand if you wish to claim a tax deduction at the end of this financial year.

Even before COVID hit, many people were working from home, and it was costing the ATO a lot of money. During COVID the amount of work from home (WFH) deductions that were claimed, increased dramatically.

During COVID, the ATO was generous enough to offer a shortcut method to calculate the WFH deductions. You simply added up all of your hours working from home and multiplied it by 80 cents per hour.

Unfortunately, a lot of individuals who submitted their own tax returns got it wrong or over claimed the amount they were entitled too.

The shortcut method was supposed to include your phone and internet use and the depreciation of items purchased for your home office. However, it seems some people claimed the hours as well as claiming phone, internet and office equipment. Even some tax agents and accountants were getting it wrong.

As such, the ATO has tightened up on WFH claims for 2023 and made it an arduous process for those wishing to claim the WFH expenses from 1st March 2023.

The first thing the ATO did was get rid of the COVID shortcut method and will only allow two methods to calculate WFH: the fixed rate method or the actual costs method.

In the past, most people would simply opt for the fixed rate method because it was less onerous to keep records but that is all about to change. The ATO is now applying a rigorous approach to record keeping where WFH expenses are involved including under the fixed rate method.

The fixed rate deduction will be 67 cents per hour but those who now work from home must keep a diary of all the hours they work from home. The ATO will not an estimate based over several weeks. No, the ATO wants you to record every single hour you work from home under the fixed rate method.

The ATO stated that taxpayers should