By Andrew Conway >>

WITH THE END of the financial year fast approaching, some taxpayers are turning their mind to organising themselves in preparation for lodging their 2019 tax return early in July.

We at the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) understand there is a strong incentive to lodge early to get your hands on some extra cash courtesy of our tax system if a refund is expected. 

We want to remind taxpayers that there are added complexities in lodging early, particularly this year due to two new factors at play.

First, Parliament needs to pass the announced increase in the low and middle income offset which applies for the 2019 income year.  Eligible taxpayers can receive up to an extra $530 for singles or $1,080 for a couple. The ATO has stated that it cannot process the higher amount until the law is passed but will be able to automatically amend a return if the law changes after a taxpayer receives their assessment.

Second, single touch payroll has come into operation. Some employers no longer need to provide a payment summary to employees as this information can now be accessed via myGov. The information available in early July may not be accurate until the employer completes a finalisation process. Until this happens employment income will show a notation 'tax not ready'.

Consistent with prior years, third party data such as dividends, interest, share disposals etc. is progressively uploaded onto the ATO systems during the month so it normally takes some time for the pre-fill information to be finalised.

The ATO has the right to auto-amend a return which it has been doing for discrepancies, but interest and penalties can be applied by the ATO.

Our advice is that unless you have certainty and completeness around the information used to finalise your return, we are encouraging all taxpayers to rethink lodging returns early this year especially in light of the above changes.

Last, and more importantly, work related deductions (WRE) has been a focus area which has come under more scrutiny. The tax gap for individuals of $8.7 billion has been largely caused by overstatement of WRE.

Random audits have revealed high error rates from both agent and non-tax agent returns. The ATO will be using tools such as data analytics to highlight possible over-claiming. 

Taxpayers need to be constantly reminded that our tax system relies on self-assessment so the buck stops with the taxpayer.

Some 70 percent of the population seek the services of a trusted professional for assistance in navigating their way through the tax return process.

Tax can be complex depending on personal circumstances so if you are unsure of your obligations professional help is recommended.

www.publicaccountants.org.au

Andrew Conway is the chief executive officer of the Institute of Public Accountants. The IPA, formed in 1923, is one of Australia’s three legally recognised professional accounting bodies.  In late 2014, the IPA acquired the Institute of Financial Accountants in the UK and formed the IPA Group, with more than 36,000 members and students in over 80 countries.  The IPA Group is the largest SME focused accountancy organisation in the world. The IPA is a member of the International Federation of Accountants, the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board and the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants.

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THE much-voiced concern about Labor’s franking credits policy impacting on self-managed super funds policy is all smoke and no fire according to a QUT Law School Visiting Fellow.

However, he said people with shares in their own name – including many pensioners - could suffer a financial setback.

Alastair MacAdam, a former QUT law lecturer with a background in the legal profession and tax accountancy, claims those with self-managed superannuation funds don’t have to lose out at all. 

“For more than 30 years dividends paid to shareholders have had credits - franking credits or imputation credits - attached to them that are equal to the amount of company tax already paid on those dividends,” Mr MacAdam said.

“So if a shareholder pays tax, they can use the franking credit to reduce their tax, but if they pay no tax, then the franking credit is refundable as a cash payment from the government.

“Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has announced that if Labor is elected, they will continue to allow shareholders to reduce their tax with franking credits, but will stop giving cash refunds for excess credits," Mr MacAdam said. 

“There has been much debate and fear generated over this yet there is a way in which people can avoid losing out on the refund, at least so far as shares that are held in a self-managed super fund are concerned.

“Government and industry funds will not be affected by the proposed policy so individuals can simply switch to one of those funds but still effectively maintain their self-managed status.

“QSuper, for example, offers a ‘self-invest’ option and others do too. So you can capitalise on their knowledge but have your independence too, as well as choose where your shares go.

“If you don’t pay tax, or you are over 60, you can still direct that your parcel of shares be made up of companies with franked dividends. The catch is you have to select companies from the top 300 ASX but it is a genuine alternative to a self-managed fund and comes with franking credits," he said.

“So while Labor has said it will save $6 billion for the economy but they are being disingenuous; probably half of that is more realistic.”

Mr MacAdam said the people who will be most affected by the proposal are pensioners.

“Labor has said that anyone who was classified a pensioner in March 2018 will be exempt but everyone who becomes a pensioner after that will lose their imputation credits,” he said.

“There is all this talk about ‘the big end of town’ as if everyone with shares is a fat cat but in reality, lots of people inherit shares from family while others bought into the popular public floats by the Commonwealth Bank, AMP and Telstra over the past two decades.

“For many people who are on a full or close-to-full pension who have a small parcel of shares those franking credits are hugely important as a supplementary income.”

Mr MacAdam said people with self-managed super funds who do not pay tax can get around the proposal by selling shares held by their fund and transferring a lump sum into an industry or government fund that has the ‘self-invest’ option.

He said that for people whose fund was in the pension mode, there would be no capital gains tax payable on the sale of the shares as such funds are completely exempt from income tax.

“However, if you own shares outside of a super fund, you may be affected by this policy. You can sell them and put them into a fund but you will pay capital gains tax. Pensioners might be able to do this too but it will be a lot harder for them,” Mr MacAdam said.

“Of course the fact a policy has been announced doesn’t mean change will occur straight away. It could be years before we see actual legislation.

“It is also important that anyone in such a situation should seek independent financial advice.”

FOR THE FIRST time in the five years and 10 rounds of the Scottish Pacific SME Growth Index, the number of SMEs who turn to their main bank to fund growth has dropped below the 20 percent mark.

The SME Growth Index research released today is conducted independently by banking analysts East & Partners, on behalf of national working capital funder Scottish Pacific.

In March 2019 Index findings, for the first time SMEs are about as likely to turn to an alternative lender as they are to ask their main bank to fund growth.

East & Partners predicts that, if the current trend continues, by the second half of 2020 alternative lenders will overtake SMEs’ main relationship banks as the key funders of new SME business investment in Australia.

Scottish Pacific CEO Peter Langham said there were many reasons behind this trend, including banks’ credit conditions tightening, business owners looking for more flexibility and funding that allows them to grow, as well as the tightening property market and SMEs’ dislike of having to use property as security for their business loans. 

“Small business owners traditionally have been ‘rusted on’ to their banks, but they are becoming increasingly open to non-bank alternatives to fund their operational and strategic growth needs,” Mr Langham said. 

"Scottish Pacific has been helping business owners for 30 years and we continue to grow. The main change we've seen in the non-bank lending environment recently is that we are funding larger deals.

“The research shows that when it comes to funding growth, traditional bank borrowing keeps trending downwards, as more businesses ‘shop around’ for a customised funding solution.”

The research was conducted from November 2018 to January 2019, after publication of the Royal Commission into Banking’s interim report and during the last round of its public hearings.

This round, significantly fewer SMEs, when asked “how are you going to fund your expected business growth in the next six months?”, said they’d approach their main bank (19.5%, a drop of more than three percentage points from September 2018).

When polling began in September 2014, just over 38 percent of SMEs were turning to their main relationship bank to fund their planned growth.

The biggest gains were made by the non-bank lending sector, the first choice as funders of growth for almost 18 percent of business owners (up from 15 percent six months ago).

This trend towards non-bank lending is supported by data showing that many of those not using non-bank lenders in 2018 were open to do so in the future. In March 2018 43.5 percent of SMEs said they wouldn’t consider using non-bank lending. Twelve months on, not even one-third of business owners are in this category.

MOST POPULAR ALTERNATIVES

The most popular alternative finance product nominated by SMEs to fund their growth in 2018 was trade and import finance (currently used by almost 33% of all businesses polled), followed by debtor or invoice finance (9%), with fintech and other funding methods used by 5.8 percent of the 1257 SMEs surveyed.

Few businesses in the $1-20m revenue category are using merchant cash advance (2.5%), peer to peer lending (1.4%), crowd-funding (0.9%) or other online lending options (0.7%), Mr Langham said.

About 96 percent of SMEs are drawn to alternative lenders mainly because of fast credit approval and reduced compliance, and the advantage of not having to borrow against the business owner’s home. Growth SMEs are five times more likely than non-growth SMEs to use an alternative funder in preference to a bank.

He said despite the gains into the SME market made by non-banks, there was still room for sector growth.

“Two-thirds of SMEs said they did not use non-bank lending options in 2018, but more than half of these said they’d be open to it in the future,” Mr Langham said.

FRUSTRATED BY PROPERTY SECURITY

One of the big advantages of alternative lending is that in most cases, business owners don’t have to put the family home up as security.

“Alternative finance is building momentum, underlined by the clear reluctance of business owners to borrow against property. The SME Growth Index found that nine out of 10 SMEs would be willing to accept a higher interest rate if it meant they didn’t have to provide property security.” Mr Langham said.

For the twice-yearly SME Growth Index, the owners, CEOs or senior financial staff of 1257 SMEs across a range of industries and all states, with annual revenues of $A1-20 million, are surveyed and interviewed.

Other key findings this round:

* A high proportion of SMEs relying on 'dumb debt' (such as personal credit cards) or owners' equity to fund new productive capacity - strategies that can actually limit new business investment opportunities.

* Business owners are more optimistic about growth than they have been for three years. More than 53 percent of SMEs are expecting to grow in the first half of 2019, at an average revenue increase of 4.9 percent.

* Regardless of any long-term financial services regulatory changes which may flow from the Royal Commission, in the short-term SMEs are already seeing an impact on their access to funding. More than half of all SME respondents say the Royal Commission has made it harder, or will make it harder, for them to access business funds.

 Click for full copy of SME Growth Index

About Scottish Pacific

Scottish Pacific is Australasia’s largest specialist working capital provider, helping thousands of business owners with the working capital they need to succeed. Scottish Pacific lends to small, medium and large businesses with revenues ranging from $500,000 to $1 billion. www.scottishpacific.com

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By Leon Gettler >>

THE Royal Commission is opening new markets for small operators moving into wealth management.

Simon Madder, the CEO of Prime Financial, said banks were now getting out of wealth management following the shellacking they got at the Royal Commission, opening the way for small businesses.

And they do it much better than the banks, simply because the banks are too big. 

“I think in its simplest form, personalised service,” Mr Madder told Talking Business. “I think there’s a challenge in getting too big and I think if you don’t have the right systems and processes and you’re not close enough to the customer or client, then the theory of what you’re trying to do versus the practice can become quite different.

“I’m not suggesting that banks in the past haven’t put clients first…but perhaps it’s been more product driven than advice or service based.”

Mr Madder said it was understandable why banks had originally moved into wealth management. It was all to sell their clients more services and products, such as insurance.

But banks had moved away from that because it was too difficult.

“You can understand given some of the challenges that have been faced and trying to disentangle the products from the advice piece why the majority of the banks and the investment banks have headed away from it,” Mr Madder said.

He said the findings of the Hayne Commission had shaken the industry.

“In its simplest form, it was shining a light on practices that were fairly questionable.”

The problem with the banks is they had put the product first, ahead of service to the client.

The Royal Commission also raised questions about educational standards and making sure the right people were there giving advice to a client.

“Absolutely it’s impacting, whether it’s a large institution or independent non-bank owned advisory firms,” Mr Madder said. 

“Rightly, clients are asking questions and that can only be a good thing, I would have thought.”

www.leongettler.com

Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness.

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