Whilst you are probably familiar with the term ‘super guarantee’ (SG) that refers to the 11% superannuation payable for eligible employees, you may not have heard of the super guarantee charge.
The super guarantee charge (SGC) is essentially a late payment fee. The ATO is very strict on payments being received for super on time and are cracking down on late paying employers.
To avoid the super guarantee charge (SGC), payments must be received by the employee's fund on or before the quarterly super due dates.
The quarterly payment dates are below (but payments can be made more frequently to ensure obligations can be met):
| Quarter | Period | SG contribution due date | SG statement and charge due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 July – 30 September | 28 October | 28 November |
| 2 | 1 October – 31 December | 28 January | 28 February |
| 3 | 1 January – 31 March | 28 April | 28 May |
| 4 | 1 April – 30 June | 28 July | 28 August |
If you don't pay an employee's super guarantee (SG) amount in full, on time and to the right fund, the ATO may contact you to you advise that you must pay the super guarantee charge (SGC) by submitting SGC statements. The SGC consists of the shortfall amounts owing, interest and administration fees and is not tax deductible.
The SGC includes the following penalties:
As of 1 July 2022, the fixed rate method for calculating your deduction for working from home expenses was revised and is now $0.67 per work hour and applies to the following:
Record keeping requirements
Taxpayers need to keep a record of all the hours worked from home for the entire income year – the ATO won’t accept estimates, or a 4-week representative diary or similar document under this method from 1 March 2023.
Records of hours worked from home can be in any form provided they are kept as they occur, for example, timesheets, rosters, logs of time spent accessing employer or business systems, or a diary for the full year.
Records must be kept for each expense taxpayers have incurred which is covered by the fixed rate per hour (for example, if taxpayers use their phone and electricity when working from home, they must keep one bill for each of these expenses).
The fixed rate method has been revised to:
You can now separately deduct the decline in value of depreciating home office assets (such as an immediate deduction for home office furniture purchased for less than $300).
If you don't use the revised fixed rate method, you need to use the actual cost method. You can no longer use the shortcut method. More details: ATO website
Many taxpayers who have already lodged their income tax return for the 2023 tax year have commented that they received much lower than anticipated refunds, or a higher tax bill, compared to previous years. The most likely reason for this is the discontinuation of the low and middle income tax offset (LMITO) that ended on 30 June 2022.
The ATO is also offsetting other debts that you may have incurred in the past that had been dormant over the last few years due to covid.
During the recent pandemic the ATO had a gentler approach to tax debts owed however that period has now ended and any tax payers that have a substantial tax debt owing will be receiving stern notices to address the money owing.
The ATO has the power to garnish bank accounts and have also warned that they will disclose debts to credit reporting agencies. This mostly applies to businesses with tax debts over $100k that are overdue by more than 90 days, however it is always best to address any tax owing as early as possible to avoid penalties & interest that may be applied.
Please reach out if you need any assistance with tax debt – we can discuss your options and help get you back on track.
