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Technical. Reliable. Fun.
BK Pod brings you the latest bookkeeping news, industry updates and conversations with industry leaders, Kelvin Deer, Peter Thorp, Kellie Powell and Darren Hagarty. From technical content to current events, BK Pod is an easy to listen to audio experience, packed with essential updates and insights for our bookkeeping community.
Hello, I'm Kellie Powell. I'm a director of both the Australian Bookkeepers Network and Australian Bookkeepers Association. And I want to welcome you to this episode of the BK pod. This podcast is designed to keep bookkeepers informed and up to date. Join us to hear the latest updates on new legislation that's impacting the bookkeeping community, technical updates, and of course an update on our advocacy efforts working with both the Tax Practitioner Board and the Australian Tax Office.
So happy new financial year everyone and thanks for joining us at this crazy busy time of year for you. So what's today's episode about? First up we'll hear from ABN ABA Director Kelvin Deer. Kelvin is going to take us through the July and August timelines that you need to be across. In particular, he's gonna break those down into things you should be doing for your clients, things you should be doing for the ATO.
And of course, most importantly, the things you should be doing for you and your business. Following that, we'll hear from ABA directors, Kerry Jarrius and Peter Thorpe for an update on what they are working on in the representation space. It's been a big month for representation, so there's plenty to hear about. This episode, they're providing an update on the work that's currently happening in the BAS agent association group.
and also discussing the Small Business ATO debt program. Finally, we will hear from Darren Haggerty, ABN's technical expert. He'll be running us through the latest Getting Technical publication, which was on the topic of super guarantee data matching and the ATO correspondence that's currently being sent out to taxpayers. So stay tuned for that one. So let's get into it, everyone. We hope you enjoy the episode.
Well good day there everyone, Kelvin Deer, Australian Bookkeepers Network Director and look it's a super busy time of year for you guys out there at the moment as bookkeepers and obviously your clients as well. So in this episode of the BKPod I'm going to discuss a few tips and tricks to ensuring you survive the July August madness of the deadline dash. So guys strap yourselves in and here we go. All right I want to break down year end into three subgroups.
and those things are the things you should be doing for your clients, the things you should be doing for the ATO and the third set is the things that you should be doing for you. So let's start with the things you should be doing for your clients. And when I say that, you know, the things you should be doing for your clients, what I'm referring to is a number of things that are going to assist your clients, finalize the current financial year, but also help them get off to a great start for the new one.
And the reality is there are a ton of non -ATO commitments that a client needs to be considering at this time of year and to achieve that, you know, there's a few things that you've got to do. So what are they? Great question. So here are a few items that you should be considering for your clients right now. All right, so any of your clients that run inventory systems, you're probably going to have a few of these. They will have recently completed their stock take and they might have done that themselves. They could have done it in conjunction with you or their accountant.
But the stock figure at the end of the day is probably going to be one of the largest dollar value items on a client's balance sheet. So to finish off the old financial year and start the new, you need to make sure that any stock adjustments have been processed so that old or obsolete stock's been written off or written down, which in turn might affect not only one financial year but possibly the next because there might be some profit margin issues associated with some of that written down stock.
So stock adjustments equals big issues and that's one thing that really needs to be considered around this time of year. Let's talk asset registers briefly. Now it's also around this time of year that we see businesses making significant investment in plant or equipment and changing or replacing equipment as well. So again you really want to make sure your asset registers are up to date by disposing of items that have been sold or traded in.
and of course booking any new equipment purchases that may have occurred. Now particularly if these items might have been financed or leased, so you may not necessarily see a payment being made from a bank account straight away. So it's about making inquiry with your client to ensure you're capturing these items and getting them onto that asset register. Another big issue to be considering right now is of course debtors or age payables.
So my tip here is to run an age receivables report and grab your client over coffee to look at old debts that are owed to the business that remain outstanding and that could include also negative balances and really what you've got to be doing right now is making decisions about how these types of items should be being treated. Some things to consider if your client is happy to write off old debtors
So simply a straight write -off then at least that's a conversation that's been had and can be achieved. Or they may consider that the tree needs to be shaken one more time. So if you've got a payment arrangement or to see if you can put an agreement in place and can be reached with your client on how to clear up that old debt. But either way it's either going to result in clearing off some bad debts or old debts or at least shaking the tree to see whether any of them can be clawed back.
The other issue of course there could be some negative balances and you really need to dig in behind these to see what's caused them. So was it an overpayment by the client or the customer and therefore is a credit note required? Or does it just sit there waiting for the customer to purchase more and then apply that overpayment to the new purchase? But either way a few decisions to be made in respect to debtors. While you're at it
Maybe the same process for the business's age payables as well. So any old creditors that house old balances or any negative balances. So you need to have a look at why they sit there and should your business or your client's business be seeking a credit note in respect to those old age payables. So a couple of things to consider there in the aged receivables and age payable space.
The next one on my hit list is to consider the previous year end balances and ensuring you are starting the year essentially with a clean file. So most businesses will have had their previous years financial statements and tax returns completed by now. So when I say that at this time of the year, I'm actually referring to the 2023 financial year here and it's a great opportunity to process any adjustments made by the accountant and to bring your client's file up to date for 2024.
financial year opening balances and look I know that seems a little bit silly here we are about to enter the we have entered the 2025 financial year we're talking about getting the 2023 balances and opening balances input for 2024 so but I guess at least you're really only then looking at one financial year in arrears with any accounting adjustments so it's a great opportunity to process those accountant journals make sure you've got your opening balances correct
and they can and do have a flow -on effect if they're not processed. So if your accountant's not one of those people that likes to supply you that stuff, then look, I can only suggest that you really get onto them, get that adjusting journal into your system and get those financial statements up to speed.
Another reason why you want that information is that the start of a new financial year when it comes to things you need to be doing for your client is that it's a great time to be considering budgets and forward -looking forecasts for your clients' businesses and to be really working with up -to -date financial information is a great start when it comes to budgeting and forecasting. So it's an enormous opportunity to get in front of your client, talk about the future, not the past.
and put a few numbers down on a page to see where they're heading or likely to be heading and of course monitor those as time frames pass. Look a couple of others when it comes to your clients before we move on and one of those is of course payroll. So on this front if you are the payroll officer there are a couple of things to be doing right now other than the STP finalizations for the ATO.
And those things are of course that a lot of payroll changes take place around this time of year. So we see Fair Work updating their pay rates together with other award changes so they need to be considered. We see employees often considering their positions which might entail them putting in place a salary sacrifice option. Businesses themselves are often doing salary reviews. They consider bonuses and allowances, etc.
really there is a lot happening on the payroll front around this time of year. So my advice here is to simply sit the right people down, get all the payroll adjustments that need to be made from them and really spend that time updating the payroll system to reflect any of those changes. The other payroll consideration I think is to not forget that this is also the time to obtain the new annual authority for STP from your client. So
If you're sitting the business owner down having a chat about those things we've just spoke about then while you're there slip the annual authority under their nose get them to sign off on that and then you're done and dusted for another year. And look the final comment I want to make when considering your client at this time of year is when you should be providing the file to the accountant. So some clients might have some big refunds owing
If they've overpaid their pay as you go installments or haven't had the greatest financial year or they could just be considering refinancing some of their debts at this time of year and so the financial statements might be being sought by banks or other financiers. So I guess it's really working with the accountant to determine the optimal time to have that information to them so the client's work can be completed, any refunds paid or financial statements brought up to bank to state and provided to banks etc.
really good opportunity to get that time frame into your system by working with both your clients and their accountant. Alright, well that's the client angle. What about the ATO? What are the things you should be doing for them? They always seem to be wanting something, don't they? But anyway, let's have a look what they want this time of year. Look, the reality is, as we know, there's a huge workload over the next six to eight weeks, July, August, for bookkeepers when it comes to ATO compliance. So for me,
I think it's about having a detailed plan on how you're going to attack all those reporting obligations that basically come before you. And before you can do that, how you're going to obtain all the necessary information from the client to do the compliance reporting on an efficient basis. So one of the biggest headaches we hear about from bookkeepers is the extraction of information from the client on a timely basis. So my tip
have a plan, have your information requests and checklists for clients clearly spelled out and most importantly give your client a deadline and press upon them the importance of getting that information to you. So that sort of gets at least the information into your hands. So just what does the July August compliance time frame look like? Well here's the deadline dates. We've got 14 July which is going to see STP finalizations along with
pay as you go with holding summaries issued to payees who aren't reported through STP. So these are your with holders, for example, contractors with an ABM that might have a withholding arrangement in place. So it's those types of summaries that you need to get out to them. Deadline is 14 July. 21 July sees us with the June monthly activity statements, lodgment dates. We've got 28 July, of course, is the super guarantee contributions deadline for the June quarter.
Very important of course if you want to stay out of the super guarantee charge statement space, so a very important deadline to meet. Moving into August, we see 21 August with our July monthly activity statements and of course a final date for monthly GST reporters to elect to report annually. So if you are going to look to make a change on your GST reporting from monthly to annually.
then 21 August is the deadline to do that. What else have we got? We've got 25 August that sees a lodge and payment by or for the June quarter activity statement. 28 August is of course the superannuation guaranteed charge statement due date. So that's if you've not met any of your super payments by the due date. So you need to lodge the SG charge statement by 28 August.
and of course 28 August also sees us with the TPAR reporting deadline for those various industries that require a TPAR report. So 28 August is typically a big date there for bookkeepers. In addition to ATO deadlines you might also have some state -based ones to deal with. So those sort of things might include your workers comp reporting on actual or estimated wages for the current and previous year.
and we then see possibly also some state -based payroll tax returns that need to be lodged as well. So no shortage of stuff on the compliance front for the ATO or for some of those state -based organizations. So I guess the best advice I have following all of that is to simply take a deep breath, book a massage and then enjoy a meal at your favorite restaurant with a nice bottle of wine that should see you through the July August deadline dash.
and look being in between all of those things so you're doing things for your clients you're doing things for the ATO but don't forget about some of the important things you need to do for you so whilst July August is a really busy time frame in fact it's super busy it's also an enormous opportunity for you to connect with your clients your clients accountants so essentially this is a time for you to shine
because your brand is on display. So you know, you've got to make the most of this time frame if you're looking for growth opportunities within your business. So some of the things you really should be considering this time of year are your engagement letters with your clients. So reissuing fresh engagement letters or updating older versions. Now that can particularly have a role when it comes to the responsibilities of each party.
So often we sort of see, well what's your responsibility, what's your client's responsibility, but also agree on some of the times and deadlines for various elements for the work to be done. So great opportunity to get in front of your clients, refresh some of those engagement letters and look at those timing issues for collection of records, et cetera, as well as responsibilities. It's also a great opportunity to look at your pricing.
Look, now this might include considering a change of method, so you might be currently on hourly but wanting to move to a fixed or value based approach or it might be simply looking at your hourly charge rates and saying well, we're seeing some cost of living increases across the board, that's not just for your general cost of living but that's also costs of doing business, so you also need to be considering your charge rates when it comes to keeping pace with all those things, so great time now to sit down.
and if there are going to be prices movements then they should be incorporated into that engagement letter that we just spoke about. What else should you be considering? Well probably your own budgets. We're talking about your clients forecasts and budgets so it's really also a great opportunity to look at where you guys sit within your own businesses. So if you've got staff then typically at this time of year you're seeing staff reviews and staff cost increases. So we've got
obviously a rise in the superannuation guarantee rates, there's increases in staff but also salary and wages etc. Often you see this time of year businesses making investments in their marketing programs but also it's really just a great opportunity to sit down and review your general structure of overheads so really just sit down and grab your last year's P &L, have a bit of a look through it and start to look at some of the costs and where you might...
get some great value. This period of time is also a great opportunity to review your own financial position and consider how to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and profitability of your business. So again, it's really just about, you know, grabbing your financial statements, your profit and loss from the last couple of years, comparing how you've gone and looking at what changes you might need to make to improve that effectiveness, efficiency and profitability of your own business.
The other thing I want you to do is just set some time aside for you, for yourself. So when it comes to both business and personal development, make some time for you. And if you're looking at a great destination full of learning, networking and laughing, then come and join me and all the ABN team in Adelaide, of course, for the 2024 Bookkeeper event. I think you'll be pleased you made that investment. And if that's not your thing, then please, just I implore you to find some time for you, time to develop your skills.
enjoy some downtime after what is really a busy period throughout July and August and I think you'll get to that end of that July August period and I think you know you've earned it so please make some time for yourself. To wrap up my best advice is July August is a super busy time but don't let it overwhelm you delivery is paramount so be proactive, be organized, be on time and be thorough.
you'll not only survive but you will thrive so stop listening to me get out there get into it and above all enjoy it look best of luck to you talk to you soon bye for now
My name is Peter Thorpe, I'm a director of Australian Bookkeepers Association. I have with me fellow director Kerry Jarius and between us we share a hefty percentage of the government's representation workload. So often challenging and sometimes rewarding we do this to see our community better off in its dealings with the tax office, the TPB and other government departments. This month we're going to have a chat about small business debt but before we do that
KJ, can you share a few things that you're up to in your discussions at BASAG meeting with the tax office last week? Thanks Pete. It's been a big week, big month for representation this week. We've had an awful lot on. I don't know what the ATO is up to at the moment, but they're certainly increasing our workload for June. And on Thursday the 20th of June is when we had our last BASAG, which is the BAS agents.
Association group that met last week. Just give you a few of the headings because it was a full day meeting. So to try and go through everything that we did was going to be nearly impossible. So we have a couple of standing things that we do each meeting. One is the TPB update where we get an opportunity to grill Michael O 'Neill from TPB. Sometimes he likes it and he's a really good guy. So he's very...
helpful for what we want and he does listen to what we say. We did mention the confusion over the annual reporting for some people saying that they're just not sure how that's going to work. So basically we'll have a look at that another thing or there is some guidance on the TPP website which we actually mentioned needed to be updated. So we've asked for some better examples on guidance on the new rules. We had a tax professional digital survey that's a mouthful.
Hopefully we saw an invitation for that and as many people as possible actually put their point forward. We're going through that at the moment. Can't go into too much detail. Client agent linking, the favourite subject of social media at the moment. That's a standing item. We had a lodge and pay update and we also spoke a little about the not -for -profit self -assessment form which at the moment, bass agents can't see.
just to let people know we can assist in that process and that's what the TPB is going to allow us to do. But that is still all in draft format. There is nothing finalized. So if you want to add any more on that, Pete. Yeah, and all that starts in six days, apparently. So I think they're going to be retrofitting some of the rules around this and some of the approvals. But going on face value, that seems to be where it is. And if Michael O 'Neill is listening, yes, he is a good fella, but I don't think he's listening.
Kerry, I just wanna, let's move on and have a quick chat about small business tax office debt. So times are getting tougher from a cashflow perspective. We're seeing some industries doing it really, really tough. Retail, hospitality, construction. We're also seeing a lot more insolvencies as a result. They're being reported in mainstream press. And often we're seeing that the major creditor is the tax office. So you can see why they're interested in reining in debt.
And last time I checked with BMW, liquidators are fast becoming their most popular customers. So look, what sort of tax office activity are you seeing out there in the real world? Well, I think they've taken the gloves off. So everybody is used to a much softer line over COVID and after past years, but now has come to the point where they've had to draw a line in the sand and say, OK, we're going to take a harder line. There's going to be more DPNs, which is
your direct penalty notices. They're definitely looking at credit agency reporting, which we used to have in days gone by and it was a common thing. That's now going to recommence. The agencies will be doing some debt collection on that. So you will be getting more calls from agencies. I think the biggest thing that we need to be looking at is the GIC. They're a lot less likely to remit GIC at the moment. And that's something
beyond our control. So I actually rang the tax office the other day about a GIC for a client and they were very cagey. They didn't want to talk to me. They want to send everybody back to the website. But unfortunately, the form that you need to fill out and attach through practice mail is only available on the ATO website, which is something that we bought up in Bassag is that that form needs to sit on OSFA so that you can fill that form out to get it.
the GIC remitted, but don't expect all GIC to be remitted automatically like we've been used to. Yeah, that's a good point with the GIC. As you say, in times gone by, you were almost a certainty to get your GIC remitted. And if you came across someone that was a little bit tough, you just rang back and got the next person and then eventually got it done. But my understanding is now the rules have turned and it's really, you need to be able to demonstrate that it's something
beyond your control before they'll consider the remission of GIC. So you don't expect that you're going to get GIC remission on an automatic basis. It's just not gonna happen these days. So it's interesting. And you talk about the DPNs and the credit agency referral, they are big deals. So the DPNs, you ignore those at your peril, you may find you're being wound up and the credit agency referral impacts your...
your ability to get credit from suppliers because they're all over it. So yeah, big issues and those not to be ignored. Speaking of ignoring, Pete, one of the things we talked about in Bassag was the color of the letters. People haven't been actually looking at the letters until they get a red one. So you've got the blue one which starts, then you've got a orange one, then you've got a red one. It's sort of a bit like a traffic light system.
But people are not responding until they get a red letter. If you get a red letter, you really have got to get a wriggle on because you should be responding at those first two levels instead of leaving it to the last minute. Absolutely.
Look, so things to be aware of in that climate where the tax office are being a little tougher, or a lot tougher on their debt collection, best suggestion I can put out there is to be proactive. So when you get to the tax office, get to them before they get to you, because you're going to strike a much better deal. Be very mindful of the self -help payment extensions that are available. So really short -term extensions, you can actually arrange with your lodgement. The new electronic lodgement process gives you an automatic
agent -assessed extension for a few weeks, depending on the type of lodgement. And that covers both lodgement and payment. The next one to be mindful of is the electronic payment plan process, which you can now, you can establish through OSFA or online service for business. Process is really easy to use and saves you a fair bit of time, so long as you fit within their parameters. And recently that limit over which you can make an extension
a payment plan has increased from $100 ,000 to $200 ,000. That's a pretty useful feature and one we should be pretty mindful of using. And now if you're outside those parameters for a payment extension or a payment plan, you're going to need to call or correspond directly with someone at the tax office. Now, Keijo, what do you see as a bookkeeper's role with debt, especially when you see a client who might be struggling with tax office debt?
The bookkeeper's role is actually really relevant. The reason for that is because we're so much closer to the cash flow. We know what's going in and out on a monthly or even a weekly basis if you've got weekly clients. So clients will tend to stick their head in the sand if they can. So I think we need to educate them as well to say, look, the gloves are off. You really need to do something about this straight away.
It's not like it was where we can ignore what's going on. So you need to raise your concerns with the client and make them aware that there are now consequences. And as Pete says, you can tap into those ATO debt arrangements, moving it from 100 ,000 to 200 ,000 has been a real windfall because some of those debts are getting quite large, but to be able to do it automatically for up to 200 ,000 really does help bookkeepers.
So you can work with the accountant as well if you've got a good relationship with your accountant. But I think bookkeepers are much better placed in that cash flow perspective to be able to help their clients. Then if it's not you that does it, who's going to do it? So your client will not often proactively ring the ATO. They're probably going to come to you first. So I think you really need to be aware and proactive and very mindful that
the landscape has changed. Yeah, it's a really good point as you say. There's no one, there's no advisor closer to the finances and the cashflow than the bookkeeper. And, you know, what's the consequence of saying nothing if you see a problem arising, you know, you gotta ask yourself, you know, if not you, then who? So look, that's enough from us at BKPod this month. We'll see you again next time, KJ. See you then. See you.
Hello and welcome to the BKPod. My name is Darren Haggerty and I'm a Director of ABN. I'm also a Tax Agent and Chartered Accountant in my own right and today I want to spend a few minutes telling you about a recent edition of our Getting Technical Newsletter. This edition is entitled ATO Data Matching of Superannuation Guarantee Obligations. Now the catalyst for this edition was the launching of a project by the ATO which is aimed at improving SG
This project involves sending letters to employers to highlight instances where the ATO believes that the employer has not met their superannuation guarantee obligations. Essentially the ATO are drawing on the data they now have at their fingertips from single touch payroll and they're matching that with data they receive from super funds as to when contributions are received for employees.
Where they believe an employee's SG entitlements have not been met or have not been met on time, they are writing to the employer with details of the shortfall. The call to action for the employer from these letters is, for all intents and purposes, to lodge an SGC statement to deal with the shortfall. But as this edition of Getting Technical goes on to explore, that may not always be the appropriate course of action and certainly not always the right one for your client.
These letters are being piloted now, so as bookkeepers we need to know how to deal and respond to them should one of our clients receive them. So in this edition of Getting Technical we start by talking about the data sets available to the ATO and how they're using them. We then take a dive into the pilot letter itself and explore some of the inherent weaknesses that might be at play in the ATO data.
We talk about the course of action you should take in dealing with the letter and we draw your attention to a particular ATO document from way back in 2007, known as a PSLA, which could offer some relief to your clients in instances where a super shortfall can be tied back to a timing discrepancy.
Once the ATO pilot has concluded, these letters will become more and more commonplace. Potentially their flavour may change based on the intelligence that the ATO gather from the pilot and from the industry feedback that they receive. But one thing is for sure, they won't be going away. The fact is the ATO have more data at their finger -tap tips than ever before and they intend on using it. The area of superannuation guarantee compliance is very much fertile ground for them.
Enjoy the read.
Well, that's a wrap for us today. I'd like to thank all of our guests for joining us. We know it's a busy time of year for everyone. So before we let you get back to the craziness that is this time of year, just a couple of quick updates. Please don't forget about the end of financial year resources we have available to you in your member's centre. We have two webinars that are focused on end of financial year, one being the bookkeeper radio and the other one online coffee club.
Over those two webinars, we've covered off on end of financial year deadlines, getting financials year end and tax ready, and how to prepare documents for accountants. So take a look at those. We've also got the end of financial year checklist and also the accounts pack. They're both located in your member center as well. And they will help you with getting client financials ready for the tax agent and tax preparation.
Don't forget the bookkeeper event being held in Adelaide from 10th to 12th of October. I can tell you the ABN office is buzzing with conference at the moment. The agenda is looking absolutely awesome. Can't wait to share it with you, which will happen very, very shortly. So watch this space. You can find out all the information you want about the event by visiting the website for the event, which is bekevent .com.
So check it out. We've got over 300 coming. Tickets are running low. So my hint is not to leave it. If you intend on coming, grab your ticket. Thanks for joining us today, everyone. Take care. Until next time, period from that ABN team.