Are you a business that has had a GST refund held up as a part of the ATO’s risk assessment program to verify GST refunds? The Inspector-General of Taxation (IGT) has recently completed and released his review into ATO’s practice and the findings are surprisingly good for the ATO. Even so, as a part of the review, the IGT made several recommendations to improve the process which the ATO has mostly agreed to.

As we head towards the 31 October deadline for lodging your tax return, we’re also heading into peak season for the army of scammers looking to hoodwink individuals and small businesses into parting with their money, their identity or both by claiming to be from the ATO.

As we progress through life, the amount we pay into superannuation tends to take on a greater importance. In our early working lives, our employers pay the standard 9.5% contribution into our super fund but (rightly or wrongly), few people proactively consider their superannuation or the retirement which it will have to fund.