The Australian Tax Office is honing in on small businesses failing to comply with guidelines regarding appropriate record keeping.
Findings from the ATO’s Protecting Honest Business campaign indicated that one of the leading factors for small business failure is their poor record keeping practices. Small business owners are required to disclose particular information, and keep records of the following:
Income tax records
Income and sales records
Expense or purchase records
Year-end records
Bank records
Goods and services tax records
Employees and contractors records
Fuel tax records
By law, all Australian businesses must keep these records for a period of five years. These records must be in writing, either on paper or electronically. Dedicating time each week, fortnight or month to compile all the above-listed information will prevent you incurring fines and possibly losing your business.
The Superannuation (Unclaimed Money and Lost Members) Act 1999 (SUMLMA), more commonly known as the unclaimed superannuation money protocol, has been updated recently to provide a clearer structure going forward.
SUMLMA provides guidance on in relation to unclaimed money, lost member accounts, superannuation accounts of former temporary residents and their associated reporting and payment obligations. The update has now added content on inactive low balance accounts.
The act now clearly defines what is an inactive low-balance account, how statements and payments work, the registering of lost members and various rules for special cases.
It is important to note that the information in the protocol does not apply to super providers that are trustees of a state or territory public sector super scheme, in which:
The state or territory has laws requiring the reporting and payment of unclaimed super money to the state or territory government. Or;
The state or territory public sector super scheme complies with relevant state or territory laws.
The protocol provides administrative guidance only and should not be taken as a replacement for the law or technical reporting specifications.
