BizTax

RBA leaves rates on hold – what does it mean?

sharnette — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:21:24 +0000

Today’s decision by the RBA to leave interest rates where they were will no doubt dissappoint a lot of home owners. However, the banks had already indicated that they will not necessarily follow suit if the RBA lowers its rates today. The reason for this is that the RBA sets the cash rate which is the overnight money market interest rate. (simply it is the rate charged on overnight loans between financial intermediaries). The cost of home loans for the banks is therefore only indirectly linked to this rate as long-term loans and mortgage rates are not set by the cash rate but by market forces.

The RBA uses the cash rate to stabilise the economy by controlling the amount of funds available in the economy and creating a supply and demand that will adjust the interest rates.

Look after your customers to beat off the business blues

sharnette — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:56:16 +0000

Every day we hear more doom and gloom about the economy. Granted, business conditions are not the best at the moment but there are still some businesses that are doing well.One of the secrets to success is to treat each of your customers as if they were your favorite client, every time. Excellent customer service goes a long way. Train your staff to sound cheerful on the phone and ask them to be well groomed and upbeat at work. Happy clients that feel valued by you and your staff will come back to you next time they need your services, and they will tell their friends about you too….

Banklink – saving you time and money

sharnette — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 04:30:16 +0000

Are you sick of doing bookwork? Biztax can offer you the perfect solution with Banklink. Banklink is a direct data feed from financial institutions enabling us to process your bank statements without you having to supply us with a cashbook or electronic data file. All you have to do is label your payments you make over the internet clearly or, if you are using cheques, drop in your check book or write a list of cheques. Simple. With this system you will never be stressed out at BAS time again and if you need financials for the bank we can produce them quickly and up-to-date at any time during the year. Ask us about Banklink and we can show you how it can work for you.

Business Boost

sharnette — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 02:35:30 +0000

Summerland Credit Union have offered our firm the chance to have a display at their Lismore Branch. This is possible through their Business Boost program that allows businesses who don’t have a CBD shopfront to showcase their offerings in a shop window for a month. The Summerland Credit Union has run Business Boost successfully in their Grafton and Tweed Heads branches and are now extending it to the Lismore branch. Biztax is the first business to use their space on Molesworth Street and we are very excited about it. Come and have a look at our display from Monday 14th November 2011.

Strategic Business Alliances

sharnette — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:11:38 +0000

We had the priviledge to have Saskia Leinius from Symbiosis visit our firm and present us with ideas on how we could better use our strategice business alliances for referral marketing. Our business, like most businesses that provide services, is largely built and relies on referrals from happy clients and other businesses. The idea of referral marketing is that you use your referral sources more effectively. One of the ways to do this is to use a strategic business alliance model. This builds on the relationship you have with your clients as well as the clients of your alliance partners. This approach is well worth exploring for any business.

Building Trade – More Scrutiny of Contract Payments by ATO

sharnette — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 23:46:09 +0000

The Australian Government has foreshadowed a new regime for the building and contstruction industry to make sure independent contractors report income correctly. The proposed regime would require certain entities to report annually any amounts paid to contractors and sub-contractors in the building and construction industry along with each contractor’s ABN. The proposed regime was first announced in the 2011-2012 Federal Budget and again in a consultation paper by the treasurer. The proposed commencement date of the reporting requirement is 1 July 2012, reports are therefore due when the 2013 yearly tax returns are lodged. The aim is to improve tax compliance by providing the ATO with sufficient information to allow for data matching and targeted audits. It is expected that this regime will be rolled out to other industries in the near future.

Education Tax Refund

sharnette — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:15:48 +0000

The Education Tax Refund is a refundable tax offset for expenses incurred for your child’s school activities. You can claim stationery, computer costs, internet, uniforms and books. Click here for more information on what you can claim.

To be eligible to claim this refund taxpayers need to receive Family Tax Benefit Part A. This tax benefit is income tested and depends on how many children the claimant cares for. Click here for more details. As always, you need to keep receipts to substantiate your claims.

Carbon tax

sharnette — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 05:33:17 +0000

Now that the carbon tax has passed the lower house there is a good possibility that this regime will commence as from 1 July 2012. For tax purposes this impacts mostly on people of incomes below $80,000. See the short summary below:

Two-stage increase in the tax-free threshold from $6000 to $18,200 on July 1, 2012 and $19,400 in 2015-16 – tax cut of $300pa for incomes up to $68,000
Matching adjustment to tax rates to increase second tier (30% for income between $37,001 to $80,000) to 32.5% and then to 33%; other tier rates to remain the same; no one to face a tax increase as a result of tax changes
One million people no longer have to lodge tax return.

Networking and Referrals – valuable business tools

biztax — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 23:44:26 +0000

I attended a business networking group meeting, the Stella network which is a women in business group, last night. The presentation during the evening (presented by Saskia Leinius from Symbiosis) focused on network marketing and referrals from existing customers. It was a very interesting presentation and re-inforced the message that your customers are the cheapest and best advertising! The trick is to offer excellent customer service to every single client every time to make your clients advocates for your business. At Biztax we work hard to do just that, look after our clients as best as we can, regardless of the size of the job we do for them. This works for any business, yours included!

Apart from the presentation, networking with other attendees provides the opportunity to offer services to people locally who may not have heard about your business or have heard of the brand but dont know what it is all about. People feel more comfortable to deal with people they know, getting to know your local business community is vital for generating local business leads. Have a go and join the local chamber of commerce, women in business or other business group!

ATO has released reasonable travel and meal allowance rates

biztax — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:18:01 +0000

Every year there are new rates of what can be claimed for travel and meal allowances. The ATO has released these rates in the latest determination.

Click here to see the rates for 2011-2012.