News

• Notify your PI to the TPB - OR ELSE!!
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• CPE explanations and access
  1
• Contractor / Employee Resources
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• EOFY Payment Summaries
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• What can a bookkeeper do? What can a BAS Agent do?
  
  
  

A PDF version of this newsletter is available here

In this months Member Newsletter you will also find the complete articles and resources on the following information:

• How do bookkeepers get their hours?
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• What should your Chart of Accounts look like
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• Payroll Checklist
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• Employee / Contractor  - Links to all the Resources
  

Scenario 1 - Leaving employment to start a bookkeeping business

“I would like some guidance please on the ethics of leaving my boss and starting up on my own in terms of taking clients. I have brought 6 clients to the business including my parents, I will be taking them all with me. I am not going to approach any of my boss’ clients but am wondering about the ethics involved if they track me down and ask me to take them on”.

To approach this with a high level of integrity and professionalism has, in my experience, proved to be very beneficial. Be open and honest with your employer at the time you are ready to make the jump.

You can leave such an employment and not burn the bridges to future contact and potential cross referral of work.

When I left my employer as an Business Tax Accountant to set up my own Consulting, Tax Accounting business, I managed to achieve a departure from that firm by negotiating amicably to take some clients without any fee, purchase some clients for a small fee, continue to do some work for client of that firm for a decent consulting fee as well as be approached by some of their clients over the next couple of years to take on their work sometimes with the firms knowledge and approval and sometimes without that firm knowing in advance.

Normally my concept is not to pay for fees, however when I knew that I would take some clients and earn some reasonable fees from clients who I would never have met, nor developed the professional relationship, if I hadn’t worked for that firm it is only reasonable to compensate.

By being open and honest upfront with the employer we kept a working relationship but on a different arrangement.

You may not want to keep any relationship, or the employer may not. I still advise to have absolute honesty, openness and integrity. Time is an amazing thing and I have seen the really very disgruntled ex-employer seek assistance from the departed employee later on due to the integrity shown in departing and acknowledgement of the skill held by the ex-employee.

It is reasonable to take the family and personal friends who would not otherwise have ever been a client of your employer. However be real. When it is time to have the conversation have a few lists of different categories of clients:

1. The family and personal friends list: You should be able to take these without anybody being upset. Ultimately (but unrealistically) to have an agreed list kept since the day you began work would prevent problems, but this sets you up from day one as aiming to leave, not a good career development perception and creates other problems.
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2. The clients that you brought into the business due to your contacts and your relationships: These are a little harder and you probably should offer to pay for some degree of fees. In reality you might have bought them in, but without your employers systems and infrastructure you would not have been able to bring them in nor develop them. You owe your employer for the ability to keep the relationship with these clients developing over recent history. Arguably the employer owes you for having the skill and initiative to bring in that client so they have made money out of the fees you brought in for some period of time.
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3. The clients that were the employers clients that now approach you: In the first year I think you need to be upfront with the client and the ex-employer that you feel you have an obligation to that employer. Offer to pay a portion of the fees back to the employer for the next year.
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4. After a year, if the clients of the old firm are approaching you I believe they are a little more up for grabs. The ex-employer has had ample opportunity to keep the client happy and maintain the relationship. The client has tracked you down, presumably, because they are unhappy so it seems the ex-employer has lost them anyway.

What if the employer says “No”?

A positioning comment is that the client will probably leave anyway. They can either work amicably with you or lose the client outright.

It may be the correct thing to do to say no to the client for a period of time. If the client is adamant then meet your legal obligation, still offer something to the ex-employer.

Honesty and Integrity is a better way to do business!

In Business and you take on a new client who is leaving another Bookkeeper

Scenario 2 - Picking up a client from another bookkeeper

We would recommend that when you are in the process of taking on a new client you seek the clients reasons for leaving any existing service provider or changing their relationship with whomever was doing the work before. Don't overdo the enquiry but sometimes you get a feel for what type of engagement you are walking into.

(We know of one business who had such a turnover of bookkeepers that the most recent previous ex-bookkeeper was returning information to the clients office as the most recently engaged new bookkeeper was reading the letter of complaint and departure from the bookkeeper who had left 2 months ago; yep 3 bookkeepers within 3 months, funnily enough none of them got paid).

But there are good clients to take over:
We recommend that once the engagement is confirmed you write to

1. the business to confirm the level of engagement
2. the ex bookkeeper (the concept similar to the accountants ethical letter)
3. the accountant, establishing a conversation about the working relationship going forward

  What are your thoughts

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“Almost no-one can tell you which Award applies. This might seem bizarre, but it’s true. Only a judge in the Federal Court or a Magistrate in the Federal Magistrate’s Court can reach a legally definitive decision”

The 122 Modern Awards that now regulate a huge number of industries and occupations - everything from retail to asphalting to engineering - became legally binding on most private sector employers back on 1 January 2010. They were put in place to ‘simplify’ the complex system of old state and federal awards which, by 2009, numbered in their thousands.

Unfortunately, your clients are finding Awards far from simple and the consequences for non-compliance can be severe because Modern Awards, like the Fair Work Act 2009, are legal instruments with the force of law. Put another way, compliance is not optional.

Modern Awards: Why They Matter to Your Clients

Here are some important – and often misunderstood - key facts about Modern Awards that you should share with your clients when you next meet:

1. Modern Awards must be read in conjunction with the National Employment Standards (NES). The ten NES, which cover everything from leave to the compulsory provision of a ‘Fair Work Information Statement’ to new employees, are the foundation of the Fair Work system. But if a Modern Award applies to a particular employee’s industry or occupation, your client must provide that employee with the minimum entitlements set out in the Award in addition to the NES.
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2. Modern Awards can be either industry or occupation based – or both. Some Modern Awards cover entire industries while others only cover particular occupations. For example, the Clerks Private Sector Award 2010 applies to clerical and administrative employees, whereas the General Retail Industry Award 2010 covers employees engaged right across the retail sector. Importantly, an Industry or Industry and Occupational Award usually prevails over an Occupational Award – so an administrative employee engaged in a private hospital will more likely be covered by the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2010 (which includes coverage of admin staff) instead of the Clerks Private Sector Award 2010.
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3. Almost no-one can tell you which Award applies. This might seem bizarre, but it’s true. Only a judge in the Federal Court or a Magistrate in the Federal Magistrate’s Court can reach a legally definitive decision about which Modern Award applies to a particular employee. This means although you can get advice from experts, lawyers or even from the Government’s own Fair Work Ombudsman, none of this advice is legally binding. Remember that it is the Fair Work Ombudsman which routinely prosecutes employers for failing to comply with Awards, but even their written advice about Modern Award coverage comes complete with a half-page long disclaimer that makes it clear you cannot rely on anything they say. Think of this as like receiving a speeding ticket and being told by the unfriendly officer that you are only allowed to know the speed limit once you’ve been pulled over and issued the ticket. As I said, bizarre but true.
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4. Minimum rates of pay are detailed in the Award. Modern Awards not only contain minimum terms and conditions of employment, they also contain the minimum rates of pay your clients must provide to employees covered by the Award. This means that if your client has never confirmed which Award (if any) applies to his or her employees, there can be no way of knowing whether employees are being paid correctly. Remember, failing to provide Modern Award terms and conditions of employment can result in very heavy penalties being imposed.
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5. Paying ‘above Award rates’ doesn’t really help. Have you ever had a client tell you that they pay ‘above-Award’ rates to their employees? If so, they are probably working on the completely incorrect assumption that paying such rates means they are therefore compliant with, or exempt from, the terms of employment set out in the applicant Award. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Modern Awards will continue to apply until an employee earns more than the High Income Threshold (currently set at $118,300 per year) and higher wage or salary payments cannot generally be used to ‘off-set’ other Award entitlements such as allowances, penalties and loadings.

Take the time to remind your clients about their Modern Award obligations when you next speak. They may not like hearing the bad news, but they will appreciate you protecting them from unnecessary fines, penalties and back-payments.

One of the things I enjoy most about my role a Managing Director of Workforce Guardian is the opportunity to meet and speak with so many hard-working employers right across the country. I often throw questions to the audience. During a recent event in Melbourne I asked if anyone could provide a definition of ‘Modern Awards’? In a spectacularly ironic response, one young man tentatively suggested it was ‘a contemporary prize offered to employers’!

Modern Awards are certainly not a prize for your clients to look forward to or cherish. Instead, these complex documents containing additional minimum terms and conditions of employment covering a wide range of occupations and industries are fast becoming one of the major sources of confusions, frustration and - more worryingly – expensive penalties – for your clients.

David Bates
Managing Director – Workforce Guardian.
Workforce Guardian products and services are aimed to support companies with more than 10 employees

For more information on Workforce Guardian please click here

A Bookkeepers plan to achieve CPE requirements

Other opportunities

• Software other briefings/updates
• ATO webinars or sessions (if specific specialised topics are of interest. The general sessions of the ATO are not suited for the majority of our members).
• Education sector specific sessions of relevance to your development.

Explanations
ICB network meetings can be attended in person or via webinar, there is content produced for 12 network meetings & 12 webinars are held over the year.
Newsletters qualify as the reading component, knowledge from the reading is then backed up by the annual members renewal assessment.

Requirements
ICB requirement is 15 hours per year Continuing Education
TPB requirement for BAS Agents is 15 hours per year (45 hrs in 3yrs) of CPE “relevant” to the BAS Agent Services that the Agent provides.

NOTE
TPB requirements for BAS Agents are based on exposure draft papers and not the final position.

Connect to your choices for CPE
ICB: Continuing Professional Education Page www.icb.org.au/cpe

This information is provided by ICB. ICB may or may not have a relationship with the providers of the below events or training, but believe they may assist you in training and development
Opportunity of the month: ICB Network Meetings
	Upcoming events ICB Network Meetings Nationally Monthly Business.gov.au Events calendar for July 2012 Taxable payments reporting webinars (business.gov.au) ICB Comment: Trying to get your client to understand or just want another set of information, spend some time with the ATO Information Session. HOWEVER, we note to take some of the comment lightly and refer back to the actual hardcopy information available in the ICB April newsletter. We have received some feedback that some sessions have gone a 'little interesting'. Xero - Moving the Needle July 20 & 21, 2012 Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre MYOB Partner Connection 2012 August 15 - August 27, 2012 Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne			Other sites with bookkeeper relevant events and training MYOB Reckon Xero TAPS - Payroll Management Certificate ATO Cash flow and budgeting - Calxa Council of Small Business Business.gov.au Australia.gov.au
CPE Requirements TPB Exposure Draft - CPE Requirements 1 ICB CPE Requirements CPE Log			ICB Learn and assess ICB Practical Bookkeeping Assessments 1 BAS Agent Competency Areas

What it means for business
The 2012-13 Federal Budget includes funding for new and existing programs and services to assist businesses.

New programs or services

• small business write off on assets less than $6500 and write off up to $5000 of the cost of motor vehicles from 1 July 2012 (previously announced – full details published by ICB)
• establishment of a Australian Small Business Commissioner, for small business services and information

Changes to existing programs or services

• $27.5 million spent to extend the Small Business Advisory Service (SBAS) program for another four years

Taxation changes

• from 1 July 2012, companies will be able to carry-back up to $1 million worth of losses to get a refund of tax paid in the previous year; and
• from 1 July 2013, companies will be able to carry-back up to $1 million worth of losses against tax paid up to two years earlier.
• FBT is changing so there will be no need to drive your car further to reduce the FBT

Superannuation changes

• from 1 July 2013, the employer contribution rate increases (previously announced – for next year)
• from 1 July 2013 the age limit is removed for SG payments (Currently you don’t pay to workers over 70. Previously announced)

Personal Tax Rate changes
Previously announced but restated and implemented in the budget
Refer “Personal Tax Changes…”

ICB comment
Once again I find that having digested the initial budget papers, and then waited and then digested all subsequent commentary and explanations that there is very very little in this budget to increase the efficiency and lower the compliance burden for business.

I find again that there is some tinkering with personal tax rates and there may be some compliance assistance as a result for individuals, but nothing really for business.

The enhanced depreciation and asset writeoff doesn’t decrease the administration at all, it is a tax advantage but based on the tax return reporting requirements nothing has changed in the way we have to account for things.

So I am disappointed.

Some rabid thoughts:
Business in Australia is overburdened by red tape and compliance costs that have such little positive effect. Some will argue but that compliance burden is what gives bookkeepers & BAS Agents jobs. I respond, in part, that there is so much work required by so many businesses that don’t comply because they can't get access to good bookkeepers (including BAS Agents). Records are a mess, once a year accounting for tax isn’t cutting it and it is now been stated by the ATO that businesses using BAS Agents have better records and are known to be more compliant. Is that a good thing? If more businesses comply, then the playing field reaches a new degree of being fair: Correct tax by more business means less tax by all business.

So what should government do: Support the Agent community. Give Australians a real incentive to put their heart and efforts into being and creating effective business, not wasting their time and effort in compliance. Stop creating compliance burdens (for example the proposed “State the date you promise to pay your employees super on the payslips”) on all business when it will NOT persuade the non super-paying employers to comply.

Encourage and reward those that comply, provide a reward for those that prove they have actually paid their super. Encourage and reward those that pay their income tax or GST debts on time.

Positive businesses are tired of hearing about the level of debt written off by the tax office because once again a large business has gone broke owing the tax office $millions. How does that happen? When small business are “hounded” for late payment. Give business a positive incentive for complying!

Reduction in tax rates if you comply: How many businesses would lodge and pay on time if such behaviour would result in a reduction to their income tax rate?

How many businesses would seek to comply more correctly if their was a tax credit for using a registered Agent for BAS or Income Tax.  

Position 1

Executive Assistant / Administration

Executive assistant who is capable of contributing to the growth of ICB including providing support to the directors and team. The role is preferably full time, based at the administration office, situated in Ringwood, Victoria.

Tasks:

• Primarily an Assistant to the Executive Director and Program Director
• Project management / Support / Implementation
• Social media management
• Event Management Support
• Support to the Admin team

Skills:

• Excellent communication skills
• Positive 'Can Do' attitude
• Organised and effective time management
• Ability to think laterally
• Strong computer skills
• Administration

Remuneration (initial range $40k to $60k + super) subject to the experience and skills of the applicant.

Position 2

Member Administration Services

We are also seeking an enthusiastic and dynamic person who is to become part of the Member Services team.

The role is part time (full time considered for the right person) based at the administration office, situated in Ringwood, Victoria.

Tasks:

• Working closely to support the Members of ICB
• Telephone & Email enquiries for non members
• Telephone & Email support for benefits, resources, events
• Member services, membership applications, renewals

Skills:

• Excellent communication skills
• Positive 'Can Do' attitude
• Organised and effective time management
• Ability to think laterally
• Strong PC skills
• Administration

Remuneration (initial range $40k to $50k + super) subject to the experience and skills of the applicant.

Please forward your application, CV and anything else that may be useful for either or both positions to Rick@icb.org.au or call Rick Van Dyk on 0419 381 635  

1. Do a dry run of the Payment Summary preparation (We recommend doing a dry run within your software to check the process works.
   (We recommend creating the empdupe file and then within GovReports doing a test submission. The GovReports program then does a test submission to see if the file is acceptable to the ATO BEFORE you lodge it. Delete the test until after you have completed end of year

   Have you got all the information for all employees?
   Have you actually got & lodged TFN Declarations for all employees?
   Have you received confirmation of Reportable FBT amounts?
   Have you caught the information for Reportable Superannuation?

2. Ensure you check the maximum amounts of superannuation.

   If you are processing the payroll for businesses, it is wise to check that no employee receives more than the maximum superannuation contribution, unless instructed by the financial planner, accountants to do so.

   Under 50 Years maximum is $25,000 and over 50 it is $50,000

   If employees or owners appear to be near or over the maximum the bookkeeper should be asking the question

3. Maximise those tax deductions – Superannuation

   While Superannuation Guarantee is not due till the 28th of July, in order to get the income tax deduction in this financial year, the superannuation must have been paid through your bank account before 30 June

BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR – general tax checks

1. Maximise those deductions
   (But only if cash-flow exists and only if it makes sense. no need to spend $1 now to save 30c or less that isn’t paid for months)

   Get the cars serviced
   Replace the tyres
   Pay the membership fees, subscriptions
   Pay the insurance bills etc
   Get a discount on rent by prepaying for a period

2. Are all adjustments from last year processed
   Have you adjusted the clients datafile for any adjustments by the accountant?
   Have you adjusted the datafile for any impact of the end of the FBT year?
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3. A once a year adjustment for private expenses – yes you can
   The tax agent may have included an adjustment in last years final tax returns for disallowing private expenses – has the GST adjustment been made?

   It is absolutely acceptable to claim all GST on all taxable purchases for a business or enterprise during the year, if turnover is less than $2m, even if a portion of the expenses are for private use.

   The ATO allows a once a year adjustment to reduce the amount of GST claimed.
   When the Tax Agent has completed the end of year tax returns and informed the amount of private expenses, then make a GST claim reduction in the next BAS. Therefore you will have only claimed back the GST on the business portion. So if you are advised there was $1100 of private expenses, then reduce your next GST claim by $1100/11 = $100. You do not have to inform the ATO, just keep the records.

   If you post the totally private expenses to the loan account and don’t claim any GST back at the time of purchase, that is OK as well.

PREPARE YOUR END OF YEAR PROGRAM

1. List all clients that need payroll end of year payment summaries prepared promptly
2. Prepare a 2nd list of clients that don’t need the payment summaries immediately and you can do their payroll at the same time as the quarterly BAS (or later).
3. Book out your diary for facilitating #a clients
4. List out your BAS clients /EOY clients
5. Book out the remainder of your diary
6. Review the End of Year Payroll Checklists
7. Review the End of Year Accounts Checklists
8. Prepare your draft templates for sending information to the Accountant
9. Preprepare each clients checklist/s

2012 Financial Year is soon coming to an end and bookkeepers need to be ready!

1. Payment Summaries for 2011/12
   
   • What checks do I need to perform?
   • What information is required for Payment Summaries 2011/12? When do I have to prepare 2011/12 payment summaries?
     • Seek in writing/email from Accountant information for Payment Summary
   • How do I lodge 2011/12 payment summaries with the ATO?
   • How do I Provide the Payment Summary to the employee electronically?What software can I use to prepare 2011/12 Payment Summaries?
     • Advise in writing/email to Employee on how payment summary is provided
   • How do I prepare 2011/12 Payment Summaries?1

Note: Refer to ICB End of Year Resources in Checklists and Notes, some now updated and finalised

What information is required for Payment Summaries 2011/12

"THERE ARE NO CHANGES TO THE PAYG SUMMARY FOR 2012 & none known for 2013"

It is that time of year when preparing for end of year payroll we need to check that all our information is available Obtain the FBT Reportable amounts Obtain the RESC amounts for the payment summary, especially when the accountant maybe managing the super contributions based on tax planning.

We have developed a template communication – letter if you like, but we would have thought email was appropriate – to the accountant to advise what they might know that you might not.

See the ICB Accountant Letter template for seek information from Accountant

Other employee’s details to review and check are:

1. Employee current address
2. Employee TFN
3. Employees Entitlements up to date
4. Reconcile Wages PAYGW and Superannuation to ensure no problems for EOY
5. Terminated Employees in prior years deleted or flagged to not report with payment summaries
6. Terminated Employees in 2012 details if ETP involved
7. Correctly flagged RESC Superannuation contributions

So again, what is RESC!

Reportable Employer Superannuation Contributions that an employer makes on behalf of their employees!

RESC includes contributions where an employee influences the rate or amount of super contributed for them and additional contributions made above the compulsory contributions of 9% SGC. These reportable Employer Super Contributions are for contributions BEFORE-TAX and NOT AFTER-TAX. Below is a table showing some scenarios defining whether the super is RESC or not.

When do I have to prepare 2011/12 Payment Summaries?

Payment summaries for employees that are not "Close"* have to be provided to the employees by 14 July 2012 and lodged with the ATO by 14th August. If your client only is a "Closely held" entity ie the only employees are the owners/directors then their Payment Summaries can be prepared in conjunction with the end of year income tax return and lodged at that time.

How do I lodge 2011/12 Payment Summaries with the ATO?

Either electronically via the ECI gateway or by mailing them the EMPDUPE file
"We (the ATO) accept PAYG withholding annual reports on:

• IBM compatible 3.5 inch floppy disks, formatted to either 720KB (double density) or 1.44MB (high density),
• 100 Mb or 250 Mb ZIP disks,
• CD-ROMs +- R/RW and DVDs +- R/RW,
• Up to USB 2.0 flash drives,
• 4mm DAT with a recording density of up to DDS4 (uncompressed) written in – TAR format – NT Backup version 3.51 or version 4.0." and posted to MIPS, Australian Taxation Office, PO Box 923, ALBURY NSW 2640”

How do I Provide the Payment Summary to the employee electronically?

You may only provide electronic Payment summaries to employees IF you submit your PAYG Annual Report to the ATO electronically

All electronic payment summaries you provide must:

• be non-editable, and
• use letter quality print so that it may be easily read

Where you are intending to provide payment summaries electronically, you need to contact your employees and advise them that they can receive their payment summaries:

• electronically, or
• on paper

You can consider that an employee has agreed to receive their payment summary electronically if they do not respond to you by a due date.

You will also need to:

• tell your employees when the payment summaries are available and ensure they know how to access and print them, and
• ensure the method you choose to distribute electronic payment summaries to your employees is secure enough to protect the tax file numbers and other personal information, and to meet your obligations under privacy and taxation law

See the ICB Employee Letter template for advice to employees.

What software can I use to prepare 2011/12 Payment Summaries?

The ATO will allow EMPDUPE files with versions of 10.1.0, 10.0 and 9.0. Below is a table outlining both MYOB and Reckon software that can be used to prepare the payment summaries. We assume the 10.1.0 version will be released with the tax scales before 1st July. At this stage the changes to the EMPDUPE file are unknown.

How do I prepare 2011/12 Payment Summaries?

Use the ICB Payment Summary support note to guide you through each step of the way. The initial task of the process is to reconcile the payroll summary with the wages and superannuation expenses and to ensure the outstanding liabilities are correct. Equally it’s important you have all the appropriate information to perform the payment summaries. Don’t leave it to the day of preparation!

ICB Link: http://www.icb.org.au/ICB_Resources/End_of_Financial_Year
ATO Ref: http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/BUS_34901_n9210.pdf
ATO Ref: http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/BUS18253n3367_12_10.pdf

Each of the software companies has their how to guides which we will refer to next month or via our resources.

ICB’s End of Year Resources:

The End of Year Checklists and Notes are designed to help you understand and capture all the information and reconciliations required for an End of Year Process.

• EOY Check List
• EOY Payroll Check List
• EOY Support Note #1 Reconcile Accounts
• EOY Support Note #2 Reconcile Debtors and Creditors
• EOY Support Note #3 Reconcile Superannuation
• EOY Support Note #4 Reconcile PAYG Withholding
• EOY Support Note #5 – PAYG Payment Summary Guide
• EOY Support Note #6 Reconcile Loans & Inter-Company Loans
• EOY Support Note #7 Reconcile Inventory
• EOY Support Note #8 Reconcile GST Accounts
• EOY Support Note #9 Review Assets Bought and Sold
• EOY Support Note #10 EOY Adjustments
• EOY Support Note #11 EOY Rollover

Website: http://www.icb.org.au/ICB_Resources/End_of_Financial_Year

GovReports – compliance update – 2012 payment summaries

• GovReports is compliant with 2011 & 2012 PAYG Payment Summary electronic reporting specifications. Version 5.1.1 was released in Feb 2011
• Self-printing pay as you go (PAYG) withholding payment summaries
  • The bookkeepers or PAYG Payment Summary preparing staff can make use of GovReports to prepare PAYG Payment Summaries for printing, emailing and get ready with EMPDUPE file for electronic lodgement via GovReports.
  • GovReports allows manual entry to prepare PAYG Payment Summary, so the dependence on payroll software or version of MYOB/Reckon not to be worried.
  • Very ideal for family based business small companies with limited staff can use GovReports to prepare PAYG Payment Summaries and lodge electronically from single window.

I normally make myself two checklists one for dealing with the last BAS for the year which also checks the previous BAS’s & a Payroll EOFY, which incorporates completing the payment summaries.

Lets start with the EOFY Payroll/Payment Summaries as Employees want them on the 1st July.

Before the 30th June – if you check as much as you can prior to 30th June, it makes the final check quick, easy and without nasty surprises.

1. If you plan to use the ECI or an SBR developer like Gov Reports, make sure you client knows about it & get authority signed  (ICB Members, click here for the authority template)
   
2. Once you have authority, make sure you have added clients to the BAS Agent Portal (even if you don’t do their BAS) and Gov Reports.
3. Dowload ICB Payroll Checklist (ICB Members click here for the checklist) – when you doing nothing else but EOFY Payroll a checklist is your friend.
4. Start checking Employees details – Name, Address, TFN, Termination Dates, Remove commas, etc from Address part of card.
5. Start checking entitlements as early as possible. Make sure they are set up correctly and flagged to carry over to the next year
6. Talk to accountant and request FBT information ASAP
7. Make sure you are aware of ‘Reportable Superannuation’ for employees
8. Make sure correct super has been paid against wages
9. As early as possible check the Wages reports against the General Ledger for the available months.
10. Check previous BAS’s (W1/W2) for the year against payroll reports

When I sit down to finalise a clients payroll for the year, the first things I do is create a folder for each company’s end of year payroll. I normally call it something like Wages end 2012 adding the company’s ID, if more than one EOFY payroll is to be done.

Then by using a checklist we make sure no important steps are forgotten. Please review our checklist or make your own, just make sure you use one –it’s so much easier on your stress levels. When you do the same procedures more than 3 times in the one day, it is really easy to think that you have already completed some part, when you haven’t.

When the payment summaries have been printed & the EMPDUPE file created - save the EMPDUPE into our already created Wages folder. It is always easier when you are importing a file, if you know where to go to get it.

Now we get to the Lodging – you may have previously used the ECI to lodge EMPDUPE files and you can still do this, but I find it messy, changing the EMPDUPE etc.

For me, using Gov Reports so much easier. Just make sure that you have the clients on your portal - so an authority is required even if you are unlikely to do their BAS.

End of Year Payroll using Gov Reports to Lodge EMPDUPE

• Log onto Gov Reports
• Go to client by ‘Select Client List’
• Select Client and Form
• Select –PAYG Annual Summary – Lodge
• Uploading an EMPDUPE file – Choose Import EMPDUPE File, then click on Choose File & navigate to Wages folder and select EMPDUPE, this appears in Gov Reports. The select ‘Read File’
• Once you read the EMPDUPE you are shown the information included
• Once you are satisfied you can Prelodge, which tests the information and then Lodge or you can ‘Save’ & Lodge later
• If you have Prelodge or saved and are ready to Lodge –go to the Queue.
• Select Lodgement, Queue
• You will see that everything you have ‘Saved’ is listed and you can choose to Lodge All or only Lodge Selected
• Once Lodged you will receive email acknowledgement which you send a copy to your client

Please refer to the ICB resource information: To see screenshots for the procedure go to: How to Lodge Payment Summaries using GovReports 

When you need to create the payment summaries & the EMPDUPE through Gov Reports go to: How to Lodge Payment Summaries for Small Companies 

I am actually looking forward to this year when I can submit all my EMPDUPE file electronically. I hope your End of Year Period is successful and non-stressful.

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GovReports to lodge your payment summaries and now your BAS
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Best process for BAS lodgement

1. Do all the preparation, review and auditing in your accounting software.
2. Obtain the resulting BAS information from the software “ELECTRONICALLY”
3. Upload into GovReports
4. Lodge

Why use GovReports to lodge your clients BAS? Works with multiple software platforms MYOB (BASLink backup file is read into GovReports) QuickBooks (XML) Xero (not yet – watch this space – manual entry as of today) Upload and pretest or save and send later Instant receipting All your BAS Management in the ONE lodgement platform. All your EMPDUPE lodgements (from all software can be uploaded, pretested and lodged) We note that Quickbooks has GovConnect for its platform – efficient but only links to Quickbooks. We understand Xero and LodgeIT are working together for LodgeIT to provide a pushbutton lodgement of its BAS's. MYOB BAS can now be efficiently lodge from GovReports. ICB NOTE: We really like where the GovReports product is going as it is starting to give us one place to manage the BAS Lodgement, the EMPDUPE files and client interactions with the ATO.

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Holiday Leave Loading on termination
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The truth: if the award, agreement or contract normally pays leaving loading on annual leave then it should be paid on termination, otherwise leave loading is not paid anywhere.

The question then should be asked;

• What awards pay annual leave loading? and
• Do you as the bookkeeper have a copy of the award, agreement or contract for each employee?

103 out of the possible 122 modern awards include Leave Loading on annual leave, therefore we recommend you review the award, agreement or contract and not rely on the past or what has been told to you.

There is another catch to this change that it took affect from 1st January 2010. Therefore any employees who left the business after 1st January 2010 are entitled to the leave loading on their termination IF leave loading was normally paid on annual leave.

Remember: the first $320 of Leave loading within a financial year is exempt of PAYG withholding.

In summary, ICB recommend

1. Obtain a copy of the award, agreement or contract for all businesses and their employees and review the leave loading clause
2. Ascertain if any employees have left the business since 1st January 2010 and were eligible for leave loading on termination,
3. Report to the business owner and gain direction in writing
4. Recommend to backpay employees before the end of the financial year.

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Paying Superfund late - Can I pay the fund?
1

The employers obligation is to pay the Super Guarantee amounts by the 28th of February, April, July & October.

If you pay late then
“A” SG Charge payment to the ATO

1. A Superannuation Guarantee Charge form must be completed/lodged with the ATO
2. There is no tax deduction for the late payment
3. There are penalties
4. Pay the amount to the ATO

OR
“B” pay the fund

1. Pay the amount to the appropriate Superfund for the employee then
2. Offset the payment against the (above) payment due to the ATO (complete the offset form)
   or
   2b. treat the payment as being in advance for next quarter and also make payment as in “A” above

Recommendation

1. (The obvious one) pay in time
2. Pay the fund

Reference:
http://www.ato.gov.au/businesses/content.aspx menuid=0&doc=/content/00249857.htm&page=32&H32

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Remember: no reports are required to be lodged until July 2013. For the full briefing document on reportable payments click here

1. If Voluntary Agreements are in place. They are between businesses, no GST is exchanged, (subbie can still claim GST on their purchases however does not charge GST on their invoices subject to the VA). Payments under a VA do not have to be reported as they are already reported as the recipient receives a payment summary with gross earnings from job and tax paid.
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2. What has to be reported, specifically Cash/Accrual. eg: If a suppliers bill is from January but not paid until July, will that have to be included in annual reporting for 2013. YES. The reportable payment is for CASH PAID DATE.
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3. Blue Card contract trainers – under training industry not building & construction if working for RTO.

BPB – Assets & Depreciation

1. With the new allowances, will assets under $6500 at 30th June be able to be written off in 2012-13 year? No. The existing pool of general assets continues to be depreciated at 30%.
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2. Will assets under $6500 bought next year be included in G10 or G11? The reporting threshold for the BAS has not changed so you still report asset purchases above $1000 on the BAS at G10 (for business with turnover of less than $2m, otherwise $300). We note that it is likely assets purchased under $6500 that are immediately written off will need to be separately disclosed on the tax return.

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It is a requirement of BAS Agents to not only have PI insurance but to notify the TPB that you have it.

HOW: Login to the Agent portal at
https://portal.tpb.gov.au/site/login/default.asp?

WHO: If it is just you then notify just you If it is an entity and you then you must notify the policy details for the entity AND then notify them that you are an employee of that entity.

IF YOU DON'T: It is possible for them to suspend your registration simply because you didn’t tell them (You MUST respond to TPB communication)

We quote from recent pronouncement from the Chair

Making sure you update your PI insurance details

As a registered tax or BAS agent, it is important that you have professional indemnity (PI) insurance cover to protect you against claims made by your clients who suffer loss due to negligence by an agent in providing a tax agent or BAS service. The Board requires all registered agents to have PI insurance. You should tell us when you change or update your PI insurance.

And as we draw closer to the end of the financial year, many PI insurance policies will be expiring and therefore you need to update your details. You can do this by going to www.tpb.gov.au and logging into the Agent Login.

The Board is currently investigating a number of registered agents who may not be complying with the Board’s PI insurance policy and therefore may be in breach of their obligations under the Code of Professional Conduct. The outcome of one of these investigations has led to an agent being issued with a written caution, and the Board are currently considering whether to impose more severe sanctions, such as suspending an agent’s registration.

We can not find any stated requirement by the ATO that indicates you MUST.

HOWEVER:
Basic professional practice would indicate that you are acting as Agent for the client and therefore you need specific authority to “make a statement to the commissioner” on behalf of a client.

We also believe that each time you have completed a form for lodgement that you should obtain client authority prior to lodgement as a basic information flow and to ensure the client knows what is being done on their behalf.

Templates for authority can be downloaded from BAS Agent Information

Have you got that client who won’t take your concerns seriously?
The client and the way they do business don’t quite fit?
Not sure exactly how the ATO would view what is going on?

Would your client cope with the ATO coming to visit, with a promise that they will look, advise but there will be NO other impact from this ATO visit?

We quote
“Free and helpful tax assistance – no strings attached"

What is an assistance visit?
To help make it as easy as possible for you to comply with your tax and super obligations, the ATO provide a free and tailored assistance service within Australia. Visits are conducted by tax officers at your place of business or preferred location. At this meeting, the ATO will work through and discuss specific tax information of interest to you. Some topics include:

• registering for an Australian business number (ABN)
• understanding and registering for the goods and services tax (GST)
• understanding employer obligations (pay as you go withholding, super guarantee, and fringe benefits tax)
• understanding super obligations
• understanding activity statement and record keeping requirements
• understanding the range of other taxes and obligations that might apply to your business
• lodging activity statements online via the Business Portal (includes set up and registration).

All provided with a promise from the ATO:
“No strings attached
All assistance visits are covered by the Commissioner’s guarantee. This means that they are educational in nature and the information you share with the ATO officers is confidential and will not be used for any other purpose.”

How to arrange an assistance visit
Small businesses needing help are encouraged to take advantage of this voluntary service. You can register for an assistance visit online at any time, or phone 13 28 66 between 8.00am and 6.00pm weekdays and we will arrange for one of our officers to contact you to make an appointment. 

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What can a bookkeeper do?
What can a BAS Agent do?
What are they NOT allowed to do?

Who says?

It does seem that the definitions and the parameters of “Bookkeeper” & Accountant” differ from region to region and country to country.

In an Australian context, unfortunately the terms “Accountant” and “Bookkeeper” are not protected in any sense.

If you want to be an “Accountant” just hang up a sign and call yourself one. Same with “Bookkeeper”.

The protected terms that we have are “BAS Agent” & “Tax Agent”.
We do have to be registered (with specified qualifications and experience) to be a “Tax Agent” or a “BAS Agent”.

So what can people do?

1.  
   1. Bookkeepers can process, reconcile and report transactions, as well as do anything else that they want as long as it is not a “BAS Agent Service” or a “Tax Service”.
   2. Accountants (remember anybody can call themselves an accountant) can also do whatever they like as long as it is not a “BAS Agent Service” or a “Tax Service”.
   3. BAS Agents can “ascertain” (which we interpret to mean provide certainty), “Advise” and also “represent” the clients to the Tax Office in relation to a BAS Provision (BAS is our government form to report and pay our value added Goods & Services Tax). This includes payroll related advice and certainty.
   4. Tax Agents are allowed to provide Tax Services which is “ascertain”, “advise” and “represent” a client in relation to income tax matters (which includes everything a BAS Agent can do and then other areas of Income Tax as well)

So what is it a BAS Agent can do that a bookkeeper can’t?
A BAS Agent can design the compliance system for a client around GST, the other indirect taxes on the BAS and payroll matters.
A BAS Agent can be engaged to review the reports of a business and provide certainty to that business about the obligations, entitlements of that business.
Both a Bookkeeper and a BAS Agent can “process” transactions according to the “compliance system” that applies to the business.
A “Compliance system” can set up a series of precedents or guidelines for how to process or “code” transactions that come into a business. We do not believe you need to be a BAS Agent to apply a system. We do believe you need to be a BAS Agent to design, advise and review that system.

Not everyone needs to be a BAS Agent, but in Australia current environment, most bookkeepers are and should be.

What CAN’T a Bookkeeper NOR a BAS Agent NOR an Accountant do?
Only Tax Agents are allowed to “Advise”, “Ascertain”, “Represent” a client in relation to Tax matters that are under an Act of law that is administered by the commissioner (of Tax). (BAS Agents can do these things for “BAS Provisions” only)

..........................................................................

   If you are seeking specific further guidance, then let us know on the forum

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Oncosts and Disbursements
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OnCosts vs Disbursements
Agency vs Principal
GST to be added /claimed/included or NOT

ICB explanation:

Is the payment a normal part of the “agents” business costs?
Yes: Then the agent should claim GST back &

• when a charge is levied against the client GST should be added to what was the GST Exclusive cost to the client,
• alternatively GST should be added to whatever amount the agent is charging the client for the service/supply.

Reimbursement / Direct passing on of On-Costs / Disbursements (at cost)
The transaction is not that of the Agent but belongs to the Client.
The agent may have paid and then “invoiced” the client but at full “disbursement” value. It is not a reportable transaction to the Agent as it is not a creditable acquisition to the Agent, nor its business, but it is a creditable acquisition on behalf of the client, hence the client reports.

Services provided by the agent / onsold / marked up
The transaction changes its nature if the Agent changes the value, charges a markup for the provision of the service or equipment etc. Then the Agent is making an acquisition that is the cost to the Agent (hence the agent claims back the GST). The Agent then bills for the provision of a service or equipment at a fee which is the subject to FBT.

Ultimate authority: 135 paragraphs of GSTR 2000/37

From the Issues register of the ATO
http://www.ato.gov.au/businesses/distributor.aspx?menuid=0&doc=/content/19995.htm&page=1#P413_23612

To start this discussion we found the following answer to be a great guidance. We quote the question and answer in full then comment

Note our colour coding:
Yellow indicates agent passing on a disbursement – No GST on the agent
Blue indicates provision of services by the agent – GST applies

14.5.1 If an agent incurs advertising, repair, maintenance costs and electronic banking charges etc on behalf of the owner, who is entitled to the input tax credits and what happens if the agent includes a mark up on these costs?

For source of ATO view refer to GSTR 2000/37 - Goods and services tax: agency relationships and the application of the law

ATO position
When an owner makes acquisitions through agents the general law of agency may apply. That is, a thing done by an agent as agent for the owner is a thing done by the owner. The owner is entitled to the input tax credits on creditable acquisitions and importations made through the agent. The agent is not liable for the GST and is not entitled to the input tax credits. The terms of the agency agreement will determine whether a particular amount recovered from the owner forms part of the consideration for the supply of agency services or is merely a reimbursement of costs incurred by the agent on behalf of the owner. A payment is a reimbursement when the agent is compensated exactly (meaning precisely, as opposed to approximately) for an expense already incurred although not necessarily disbursed. In general, the owner considers the expense to be its own and the agent incurs the expenditure on behalf of the owner.

It should be noted that where an agent incurs a cost that is reimbursed by the owner, the agent is not entitled to claim an input tax credit on the acquisition. Where an amount is incurred and not reimbursed, the cost will represent an ordinary operating cost of the agent's enterprise and an input tax credit will be available to the agent (assuming it is otherwise a 'creditable acquisition' for the agent).

Example An agent purchases a $5,500 air-conditioning unit for the owner of a building and claims the reimbursement. The owner is entitled to the input tax credit if it is a creditable acquisition.

In the example above, if the agent charges the owner more than $5,500, it would not be a reimbursement, that is, the agent charges a mark-up. Assuming the agent who is registered for GST charges the owner $6,050 and invoices the owner for $6,050 being sale of an air-conditioning unit from the agent to the owner; GST payable by the agent would be 1/11 of $6,050 which is $550. The agent is entitled to claim the input tax credit of $500 which is 1/11 of $5,500. The owner is entitled to claim an input tax credit of $550 if the unit is a creditable acquisition. If the agent claims the reimbursement of $5,500 plus a service fee of $550 for organising the purchase and installation, etc; GST payable by the agent would be $50 being 1/11 of $550. The owner is entitled to an input tax credit of $550 (that is, 1/11 of $5,500 + 1/11 of $550) provided the unit is a creditable acquisition.

Electronic banking charges incurred by the agent and passed on to property owners would not usually be considered a reimbursement. The banking charges relate to activities on the agent's bank account and are a cost to their business, which they then pass on to those whose properties they manage. If the charges to the owner's trust account form part of the consideration for the services performed by the agent, GST will be payable by the agent on these amounts.

A discussion of the agency relationship and disbursements appears in GSTR 2000/37 commencing at paragraph 48

What is your situation?  

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GST on bank charges
1

GST - Fre or NT?

BANK CHARGES & GST

Are they Free or Not Reportable?

Reference material:

1. ATO website extract on BAS G code reporting
2. ATO GST Activity Statement instructions

There is no longer any specific reporting of what is GST Free and what is Not Reportable on the BAS (purchase side). G10 for Capital, G11 for everything else, but no G14 for “Free”.

However G11 does have to include GST Free purchases (and G10 for that matter for Capital without GST).

So what is the difference between GST Free and Not Reportable.
Quoting the BAS Agent Instruction Guide NAT 7392
DO NOT REPORT the following

• purchases and importations that are not related to your business
• the stamp duty component of any capital purchases n the amount paid or payable for a purchase

  or

• importation of a car that exceeds the car limit for the relevant financial year
• anything that is constituted by an insurer settling a claim under an insurance policy or by an operator of a compulsory third-party scheme settling a claim under a compulsory third‐party scheme (if you are not an operator of such a scheme).

So everything else that is a creditable acquisition should be reported. Free of a GST credit.

BUT it just doesn’t matter. 

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An ex-client contacts you a year after you have last worked for him, with a letter of complaint demanding a refund equivalent to 4 hours of work, and threatening to report you to the TPB.

You have documented all the work done for this client, and no objection was made at the time of finishing your engagement with the client.

What do you do on receiving this letter?

What do you think? Discuss at your network meeting, let us know your thoughts, post comments and questions on the forum.

  Let us know your responses and thoughts here

1
Last month we asked you: 

Cash payments to suppliers:

I have just taken on a new client who is opening a B&B/Boarding House. The start-up expenses have been enormous.

They have taken on cleaners who want to be paid cash. They have also had casual labourers paid with cash. The owners are very keen to capture all expenses.

What is the best way to document these expenses? My suggestion is to keep an invoice/receipt docket book, with the supplier to sign off on receiving the money.

Our response:

Oh dear!

What about all the compliance obligations?
Does your client have the ABN of each and every supplier? if not then your client must withhold 46.5% of the amount as tax and provide it to the tax office.

Does your client have other information about the suppliers?

You definitely need proof of the nature of the expense (normally an invoice from the supplier) but certainly some form of proof of receipt with the nature of the expense. You will definitely need to be able to prove that the payment was made and to prove that the supplier is legitimate and actually exists - just a signature on a receipt book will NOT suffice.

99.95% of the suppliers to this business have valid tax invoices.

This is pretty much business as usual for the casual cleaning industry, isn't it?

Maybe I have to go back to Bookkeeping 101 because of this question?

What about if they supply a statement using form NAT3346?

Yes some industries have the cash as means of payment, especially for start ups.

I think the receipt is very, very wise. So your business documents will be invoice followed by proof of payment, signed off invoice by the supplier might be enough.

Join a network meeting this month, not just to share, but to also network and keep informed.

If you are unable to attend your local meeting due to time restraints or there isn't a meeting in your area, why not join us via webinar on the 2nd Friday of each month.

Click here for constantly updated ICB Network Meetings with full details of locations, dates and times

June - Do a trial payrun to check it works before it is crunch time

June 30 - Pay your Super contributions for the June quarter before 30 June to get the tax deductions

You can download the full MYOB article here.

• 2.2 million were employees without paid leave entitlements;
• 1.0 million were independent contractors; and
• 1.0 million were other business operators.One in five Australian workers are casual employees (Australian Bureau of Statistics)

One in five, or 19% of Australian workers were casual employees in November 2011. This represents just under 2.2 million people.

Females were more likely than males not to have “paid leave entitlements” which means they are casual or contract. (23% compared with 16%).

On an industry basis: Over half (64%) of all employees in the Accommodation and food services industry did not have paid leave entitlements. Agriculture, forestry and fishing (48%), Retail trade (40%), Arts and recreation services (39%).

The occupation with the highest proportion of employees without paid leave entitlements was Sales workers (48%), followed by Labourers (46%). Occupations with a low proportion of employees without paid leave entitlements were Managers (6%) and Professionals (10%).

The ABS also found that there were 605,400 persons (5% of all employed persons) who found their job through a labour hire firm/employment agency in November 2011, of whom 56% were males. Of these, 141,700 persons (23% of those who found their job through a labour hire firm/employment agency) were paid by a labour hire firm/employment agency.
Administrative and support services (20%) and Manufacturing (13%) were the industries with the greatest proportion of those who were paid by a labour hire firm/employment agency, while Clerical and administrative workers (21%) and Machinery operators and drivers (19%) were the most common occupation groups.

Although numbers are increasing over time, the rights and entitlements of these casuals today are similar to previous years.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) is the source of this information. Full details at:
Forms of Employment, Australia, November 2011
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6359.0?OpenDocument

Similar services now initiated in NSW, QLD, SA & WA

One of Victoria’s initiatives to assist the state’s small business owners has reached a major milestone.

Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business Louise Asher today announced that the Office of the Small Business Commissioner has received the 10,000th application for its unique dispute resolution service.

“With a mediation success rate of around 80 per cent and a client satisfaction rate of 92 per cent, this is an outstanding example of government assisting Victoria’s small businesses,” Ms Asher said.

“Last year applications to the office grew by 12.5 per cent as more business owners became aware of the assistance the Commissioner can give to them.”

During 2011 more than one third of disputes were resolved prior to mediation, at no cost to either party.

“This is a low-cost service, designed to minimise the number of disputes and the disruption they cause to small business operators,” Ms Asher said.

“Additionally it keeps these disputes out of the traditional legal system where, in the past, they have clogged up the courts and imposed substantial costs on both parties.”

The key activity of the Small Business Commissioner involves resolving retail lease disputes.

However the Commissioner’s office also assists with other business disputes including contract terms, payments, commercial leases, and franchise and tender processes. These disputes comprised nearly one third of applications handled by the Commissioner’s office last year. They can range in value from a few hundred dollars to more than one million dollars.

The Commissioner also mediates farm debt disputes, following the introduction of new legislation in 2011 requiring creditors to offer mediation to farmers prior to enforcing a farm debt.

The success of the Victorian Small Business Commissioner has led to the recent establishment of similar roles in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.

For more information about business dispute resolution or to find out more about the Small Business Commissioner Geoff Browne, contact the Office of the Commissioner on 9651 9316 or visit www.sbc.vic.gov.au

Visit www.premier.vic.gov.au for more news

The ATO have embarked on a number of initiatives to encourage you to lodge all forms electronically. Funnily enough it costs a heap of money to produce over 4M BAS each quarter that get lodged electronically (outside of those forms that get lodged on paper).

ICB is a member of the recently established ATO Electronic Advisory Working Group, working with the ATO to improve the electronic lodgement experience and solutions.

Our early representations have included:

1. Providing a client list screen showing Lodged vs Not Lodged activity statements on a single screen of the Portal
2. Providing BAS Agents with the ability to stop the paper activity statement being sent
3. Allowing the BAS Agent and the Tax Agent to both have access to Activity Statement rights at the same time
4. Allowing BAS Agents to obtain the clients integrated client account through the portal easily
5. Have the ATO provide more data and information flow through the emerging SBR gateways

The ATO have indicated again through this Working Group their keenness to improve efficiency in our system, which will then effect their system.

Heres hoping.

Any comments or further feedback you would like to make let us know at this forum topic.

We understand the ATO may be surveying the BAS Agent community sometime soon. 

We have noticed a little trend from the ATO; letters advising a swap to monthly PAYG W for the business. Anybody else noticed?

We are wondering whether the new ATO supercomputers and their enhanced data trawling is starting to make some changes.

When do people change to monthly?
When the annual withholding from pays is over $25,000

What does changing mean?
Monthly PAYG W form to be lodged – grrr!
So for 2 out of 3 months a new form on the 21st of the following month to pay one months PAYG W. and for the 3rd month (being the end of the quarter) the whole BAS including the PAYG W gets extended till the 28th but you can also have the agent extension of 2 weeks and the electronic lodgement extension of another 2 weeks, but only for the quarterly form with the GST on it.

So GST remains quarterly!

When does GST go monthly?
When the business turnover is over $20m 

You will be provided with a hyperlink to a new business name registration service that will replace current state and territory systems (dependent on the passage of legislation through the state parliaments). It will be available on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) website.

Altered functionality

In accordance with new business name legislation, the ABR will no longer collect or maintain trading names. However, existing trading names will continue to appear in ABN Lookup until mid-2013.

Functionality temporarily unavailable

ABR online functions, temporarily unavailable on the new platform until late 2012, include:

• goods and services tax (GST) and pay as you go (PAYG) withholding registrations - use the Tax Agent Portal to register clients
• fuel tax credits registrations - phone us to register your clients
• saving Australian business number (ABN) applications to resume at a later time. The ABR will keep you informed of future changes to the ABR including reinstatement of online GST and PAYG registrations.

More information

With implementation of any new system, temporary issues such as slow system response times can occur. We will investigate all issues as a matter of priority and keep you informed via our System maintenance and issues page or visit our website at www.ato.gov.au and search '50846'.

For more information, refer to Changes to the Australian Business Register or visit our website at www.ato.gov.au and search '00259788'  

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From the ICB
1

Build on Bookkeeping Wins a National Small Business Champion Award

Bookkeeping firm, Build on Bookkeeping (from Sydney’s Inner West) has been declared the winner of the 2012 Australian Small Business Champion Award in the Business Service Category at an Awards ceremony last Saturday night.

The company’s manager Carly Hill (and ICB Member) was presented with the Award by the Australian Minister for Small Business, Housing, and Homelessness, Brendan O’Connor on Saturday 21st April at the Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony held at the Westin Sydney.

Build on Bookkeeping (affectionately known as ‘BoB’) was launched in March 2008 after young entrepreneur and CA Carly Hill saw a need for bookkeeping services specifically catering to the unique intricacies of the building and construction industry. In the years that followed, BoB branched out to many other industries, and today primarily works with clients referred from top tier accounting firms.

Carly has confronted the many challenges and opportunities that face a new business owner, especially a young one, with determination, enthusiasm and innovative thinking. The hard work eventually paid off and BoB experienced growth in revenue of over 115% from FY2010 to FY2011, and is on track to greatly exceed that growth percentage for FY2012. It currently employs 14 members of staff, mostly female.

Being named a Small Business Champion is another success that has the whole BoB team abuzz. "We take such pride in the quality of service we provide to our clients, as well as in the great team culture that has helped drive our success so far. We are thrilled to have had this recognised by becoming a Small Business Champion", Carly said.

The Australian Small Business Champion Awards is the only national program of its kind to recognise the achievements and performances of small business. 38 small business categories including two entrepreneur categories and two business growth categories were presented on the night. Award recipients were presented with a gold champion statuette and certificate and will enjoy national recognition.

One of the aims of the Small Business Champion Awards is to encourage excellence. “The Small Busines Champion Awards is a celebration of small business and its contribution to the Australian way of life”, said Steve Loe, Managing Director of Precedent Productions and founder of the awards. “I congratulate all the winners and finalists who entered the awards. Every business has displayed passion, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit,” said Mr Loe.

About Build on Bookkeeping
Build on Bookkeeping provides premium bookkeeping solutions for clients across NSW, on both a remote and onsite basis. Offering the full range of bookkeeping services to businesses of all industries and sizes – you can rest assured that BoB is the sound choice for all your bookkeeping needs.  

Welcome to the ICB May 2012 Bookkeeping eBRIEF, YOUR newsletter for YOUR business

Bookkeeping eBRIEF is a business newsletter - Bookkeeping eBRIEF is provided by ICB

	Click the button to subscribe now and each month you will receive the Bookkeeping eBRIEF directly to your inbox
You can download the May newsletter for your business here: May 2012 Bookkeeping eBRIEF Back copies are available here Templated client information newsletters are not a new concept but are certainly a new concept in bookkeeper space. "The best bookkeepers using the best resources".
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What's new this month 1
New Resources Lodgement Deferrals (from the ATO) – PDF – BAS Agent 1 ECI lodgement of Payment Summaries – PDF – Payroll 1 Review of your assessment and record keeping – PDF – Business Information 1 Detailed Food List – PDF – Bookkeeping Tools 1 Starting a business (business.gov.au) – Link – Business Information 1 Capital Gains, guide to tax concessions for small business 2010-11 – Link – Business Information 1 Capital Gains, advanced guide to tax concessions for small business 2010-11 – Link – Business Information 1 Capital Gains Tax, small business concessions tool – Link – Business Information 1 Employee or Contractor: how to tell the difference (business.gov.au) – Link – Payroll News Items UPDATE on ICB Technology upgrade 1 Budget 2012-2013 1 ICB Server upgrades 1 ATO Webinars on reportable payments Forum News Due to the upgrade of our servers, unfortunately the ICB Bookkeepers Forum has been off line for a bit this month. We are, however, very pleased to advise everyone that it is now 'business as usual' on the forum so let us know your concerns and queries as it comes up to this very busy time of year for bookkeepers - we are here to help! The Latest Updates lists all the topics in order of the replies.
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ICB Links
Apply for ICB Membership here Renew your ICB Membership here BAS Agent updates and information Other Newsletters The BAS Agent Workforce Education News The Association of Payroll Specialists (TAPS) Calxa
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ICB Membership Statistics 1
3,277 1,798 Members maintain Fellow, Member, Associate, Affiliate and Educator membership, ICB also has 1,369 Student Members and 78 Subscriber Members.  ICB currently has a further 32 application in process
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ICB Supporters and Sponsors 1
Insurance Made Easy providers of Professional Indemnity Insurance for bookkeepers and BAS Agents MYOB has sponsored the ICB Network meetings as a direct support of the need for members of the ICB and other bookkeepers to get together for development and networking. MYOB has engaged ICB to provide the assessment knowledge and expertise behind the MYOB Approved Bookkeeper program Xero proudly supporting ICB as a major sponsor to assist ICB in providing bookkeepers to their business and clients Reckon has joined ICB as a major sponsor to assist in providing Bookkeepers with solutions and benefits for their business and clients. ICB Global continues to support ICB Australia through the provision of web resources, database infrastructure, bookkeeping resources, information and IT support. Open Colleges supports ICB in the dissemination of quality information about the education environment including information of Cert IV providers and total education programs.
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Please note that, in between newsletter issues, articles may be published straight to the Latest News section of the website.   Please check the headlines which can be found in the top right of the website homepage, to ensure you stay up-to-date. The Institute of Certified Bookkeepers complies with the Spam Act 2003 and we have a documented Spam Policy on our website. You can unsubscribe from ICB newsletters and updates here. ICB's Newsletter contains news articles, links and regular sections that we feel will be of interest. If there is anything that you would like to see, whether a regular feature or a one-off, please let us know. Email your ideas to admin@icb.org.au
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The monthly Newsletter for members of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers. A selection of those articles listed are accessible by ICB Members ONLY - ICB Members, you will need to be logged onto the ICB website to view all the articles in full.    The newsletter of ICB is designed as information and resources for Bookkeepers with clients and also bookkeepers in employment. The content of the newsletter maybe relevant in part or in whole to other publications or other purposes. The ICB withholds all rights of all content that is restricted to member access only and that information included in the member newsletter. Member only information is not to be reproduced without specific consent from ICB. The ICB permits reproduction of ICB articles and material contained in the non-members newsletter and available publicly on the website on the proviso that acknowledgement of ICB is specifically provided including links to the ICB website and original article. eg "This information has been obtained from the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers from www.icb.org.au"