MGR Accountants News

Thankyou for participating in our survey

Thu, 10 Jul 2014 05:49:00 GMT

Thankyou to everyone who participating in our recent client survey.

How to get a Fast Start in 2014

Thu, 16 Jan 2014 04:10:00 GMT

Don't miss this opportunity to invest 3 hours of your time towards your personal and professional development and kick off 2014 with a clear focus and direction

Explore:

The power of goal setting, the Goals Cycle, and the positive and negative effects of feelings, actions and attitude
The Total Person Concept, to achieve success in all areas of your life.
Learn from your wins and disappointments.
Maximise your bottom line in 2014.
Planning for success in 2014.
Discuss key productivity concepts to help you achieve more next year.
Join us and hit the ground running in 2014.

Registration details:

Venue/Address: All Seasons Hotel & Quality Resort, Lansell 1 Room, 173-183 McIvor Road, Bendigo VIC 3550

Date/Time: Wednesday, 29th January 2014, 8:30am check in for 9:00am start, and a 12:00pm conclusion

Registration: Please return the registration form by email to: mjohnson@lma.biz or fax 5443 9556

Investment: The event cost is being covered by LMA and MGR Accountants. Usual cost is $175 per person

Information: For additional information contact Mark Johnson on 5444 3405, mjohnson@lma.biz or www.lma.biz

Category: MGR Accountants

Aged Care – planning for the future

Fri, 29 Nov 2013 03:26:00 GMT

When planning a move into aged care for yourself or a loved one, there are a number of questions that need to be taken into consideration:

· What are my options for assisted living?

· What type of facility should I choose?

· What are the costs?

· What do I do with the existing family home?

Often these decisions need to be made in a hurry, causing additional stress at an already emotional time. Planning ahead and understanding all the issues around aged care can give you comfort around the decisions you make and ensure you manage the financial impact of this transition.

What are the options for assisted living?

The Australian aged care system provides a range of care options including community aged care and residential aged care. However, prior to making this move, it is necessary for the resident to undergo an assessment of their physical and mental ability by the Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT).

This assessment generally occurs following the referral of a general practitioner.

What type of facility should I choose?

Residential aged care is provided at either low level or high level of care. The level of care required will be determined by the residents ACAT assessment.

What is the difference?

Low level care (previously referred to as hostels)

· Self-contained accommodation with some communal facilities;

· Support facilities, including meals, cleaning and personal care.

High level care (commonly known as nursing homes)

· Purpose-built residence with access to 24 hour nursing care;

· Accommodation catering to situations where it is no longer possible for the individual to look after themselves due to illness or disability.

What are the costs?

The government can provide substantial assistance with the cost of aged care. However, this can be a complex area as the way a resident’s assets and income is structured will have a direct impact on the amount of fees that they will pay when entering a facility and for ongoing fees or bonds.

Types of feeds include:

Basic daily fee – as a contribution toward accommodation and costs of daily living;

Income tested fee – as a contribution towards the cost of care which is based on the level of a person’s income;

Accommodation payment – as a contribution towards capital accommodation costs, such as an accommodation bond for low level care or accommodation charge for high level care;

Extra service fees – where extra services apply to residents occupying extra service places for the provisions of a higher standard of accommodation services and food.

What to do with the existing home

The decision you make regarding the family home can significantly impact the resident’s age pension or Department of Veterans Affairs entitlements.

It is recommended that you seek professional financial advice before making the decision to sell the family home.

For more information click to view the MGR Aged care planning for the future

MGR Financial Services is able to provide quality advice to assist you in solving all of the above questions. To make an appointment to speak with one of our qualified financial advisers on aged care, please contact us on 03 5443 8888

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Prepayment Of Health Insurance

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 06:20:00 GMT

IMPORTANT NOTICE

If you pre-pay your 2012/13 private health insurance premium before 30 June 2012, you may still be able to access the Government rebate. The Government currently provides a non-means tested rebate for private health insurance premiums.

The changes in the health insurance rebate reducing your rebate from 30% to 0% for families with adjusted taxable incomes over $260,000 or individuals over $130,000 on a sliding scale, will from the 1^st July 2012 . We are suggesting that to take advantage of the 30% rebate that you prepay your health insurance premiums for the next year. Once your ‘adjusted taxable income’ is greater than $130,000 (or $260,000 as a family), no rebate will be available.

Your ‘adjusted taxable income’ includes the total of:

Taxable income;
Adjusted fringe benefits (total reportable fringe benefits x 0.535);
Tax-free pensions or benefits;
Target foreign income (income earned overseas that is not already included in your taxable income);
Reportable superannuation contributions; and
Total net investment losses.

If you are interested in this one-off savings opportunity, we suggest you contact your private health insurer to discuss the possibility of pre-paying next year’s premium. Some private health insurance funds will even allow you to pre-pay up to 18 months of premiums.

If you have any queries, or would like some further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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Category: MGR Accountants

The Budgeting Tool / Calculators on our website have been upgraded.

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:28:00 GMT

Now you can use these tools to ascertain your complete Cash Flow position (whether or not after all costs , income, assets and liabilities you have a positive or negative cash flow). Knowing this information is vital to better management of your money.

Being able to develop and manage a Budget on an ongoing basis has always been an important aspect of gaining better control of our financial affairs. Unfortunately, completing this task on a regular basis has always been difficult, time consuming and at best ad-hoc. There have never been any readily available tools to help with this process.

So we take great pleasure in advising that you can now access and use new Budgeting, Superannuation and Tax tools right here on our website.

To start using them simply click on the 'Calculators' or 'Financial Tools' button in the menu bar.

The real beauty of these tools is that you can begin using them to develop your budget or test some Super strategies, leave the site, and when you return to the site the information you entered previously is there waiting for you. Of course, you need to Register so the system knows which information is yours, just like Internet Banking.

While these tools are great for all existing clients and staff, they are also useful for family members to utilise. It is never too early for children and young adults to gain a better understanding of their financial position or to improve their financial literacy.

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Category: Tax & Accounting News

Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Compliance - Fringe Benefit Tax

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:02:00 GMT

Tax payers should double check their recently lodged FBT returns in advance of future compliance review.

The ATO has indicated that the 2011 compliance program will include a review of Fringe Benefits in four (4) particular areas.

They are:-

Failing to identify taxable benefits, particularly motor vehicles.
Failing to value correctly those benefits
Failing to lodge returns, and
Taking advantage of grey areas in the law

In particular, the ATO intends to focus on luxury car purchases and the grey area of dual cab utilities, when private use has not been appropriately recognised.

Since Fringe benefits Tax is an expensive alternative to income tax and GST, it is worth reviewing the basis of all calculations, declarations, log books and basic documentation.

Whilst there might be an exemption for private use of a dual cab utility, if the declaration is not signed by the relevant employee(s), then the exemption will not apply.

In circumstances where a certificate or a declaration is required, it is a relatively simple test for an auditor to deny an exemption, yet it is also relatively simple to get it right. Quite an expensive cost for not meeting the requirements.

A review of Fringe Benefits Tax returns or obligations is worthwhile before starting on the 2011 tax return obligations.

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Super Gender Gap

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 01:19:00 GMT

A fundamental weakness in Australia's superannuation system is the glaring gap between the super savings of men and women.

The recently released ABS Survey of Income and Housing shows that the average super balance for men was $71,645 in 2009-10 against $40,475 for women. And the average balance at retirement was $198,000 for men against $112,600 for women.

However, the gender gap is somewhat narrower than a few years ago. ABS figures indicate that the average balance for men in 2003-04 was $56,400 compared with $23,900 for women.

The reasons for the difference in retirement savings are only too clear.

Women have lower average salaries than men, often interrupt their careers to raise children, and their finances can be particularly hard hit by marriage breakdown. And on average, women retire at a younger age than men - yet have longer life expectancies.

Indeed, a powerful argument can be mounted for why women need more super savings than men - not much less.

It is crucial to keep reinforcing the message that women should take every opportunity to maximise their retirement savings. For instance, ASIC's personal finance site MoneySmart is currently urging women to become more informed about superannuation.

MoneySmart focuses on such basics as making salary-sacrificed contributions, making after-tax or non-concessional contributions (with eligible low-income earners receiving Government co-contributions) and simply tracking down lost super.

Some financial planners suggest that women intending to take a break from the workforce try to increase their salary-sacrificed contributions in order to build up extra savings before leaving their jobs. And some working spouses make spouse contributions into their wives' super accounts to help boost the balances during any time out of the workforce.

By Robin Bowerman

Smart Investing

Principal & Head of Retail, Vanguard Investments Australia

10th October 2011

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Category: Financial Services News

Category: MGR Accountants

2011-12 Budget Report - The "Nip and Tuck" Budget

Wed, 11 May 2011 04:49:00 GMT

The 2011/2012 Federal Budget was a ‘nip and tuck’ Budget. Along with the summary below is a more detailed consideration of the budget points in the MGR Accountants' Budget report.

Many of the changes were either because of or justified by the need to improve the workforce participation rate to counter the declining unemployment rate from the current level of 5% to 4.5% by June 2013. Others were simply to fulfil the promise of bringing the budget into surplus.

Some changes were more than cosmetic with a temporary flood and cyclone reconstruction levy set to apply in the 2011/2012 income year to those who earn over $50,000 (adding $1.725bn to Government revenues over 5 years). FBT changes will add an additional $970m over 5 years. And, a few tucks will be made to the tax system with the phasing out of the dependent spouse tax offset and removing the ability for minors to access the low income tax offset on unearned income in order to restrict income splitting.

Some areas of interest to business remained unchanged: the company tax rate reductions announced in the previous Budget remain intact as do some of the small business initiatives. Some extra revenue has been gained by delaying the start of some broader (mostly green) reforms and infrastructure projects, and holding indexation at current levels for family payments.

In the superannuation area, reforms to the excess contributions tax regime may provide some relief (but not this year).

Some of the detail, such as the $5,000 write-off for small business to purchase a car (replacing the entrepreneurs tax offset), and the FBT changes were announced/leaked ahead of the budget. So, there were few surprises in this budget.

The elephant in the room was the carbon emissions trading scheme, or the lack of it. There is no detail beyond funding for an advertising campaign. This means that when the final shape of the emissions trading scheme is known, the Government will need to release an updated set of figures.

Key Budget points include:

FBT – statutory formula for valuing car fringe benefits to change to a single statutory rate of 20%
Flood and cyclone reconstruction levy introduced in 2011/2012 income year on income above $50,000
Income splitting targeted – low income tax offset removed for minors on unearned income
Reforms to excess contributions tax from 1 July 2011
Reduction in GDP adjustment factor for PAYG instalment taxpayers
Some companies will be required to report annually on payments made to contractors in the building and construction industry from 1 July 2012. The cleaning industry has also been flagged as a possible compulsory reporting industry.
As planned, company tax rate will reduce to 29% for small business in 2012/2013

More ...

Category: Tax & Accounting News

Goverment announces flood levy to pay for repairs in Queensland

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 04:35:00 GMT

Yesterday the Federal Government announced it would impose a flood levy to help cover the cost of repairs to damage caused by Queensland's recent floods. People earning a $50,000 taxable income will incur a 0.5% levy on anything above $50,000, increasing to 1.0% for taxable income above $100,000. The Government has promised the levy will not increase, nor will it last any longer than the 2011 2012 tax year. Additional repair funds will come from spending cuts.

Anyone who received the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment will not be required to pay the levy which otherwise will be deducted via the normal PAYG installment system. More details on this will be available once the levy is enacted in legislation.

A scan of today's press shows opinion on the need for a levy is divided.

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Category: Tax & Accounting News

Victorian Floods - A snapshot of issues to assist those affected

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:12:00 GMT

Pitcher Partners have developed a 4–5 page snapshot of issues surrounding flood relief for businesses and individuals. The paper covers some of the items already posted about on mgr.com.au but also covers tax deductions for donations and consideration of employer assistance to employees.

This is useful, but relatively high-level information and we would recommend you consult with your accountant on any areas where you require assistance.

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Category: Tax & Accounting News