News Bulletin 17 November 2010

Sky News interview: Discretionary & family trusts

Recently the ATO cast the spotlight on the management these structures which may result in certain discretionary trust arrangements being taxed less favourably. Michael Derin discusses the situation regarding discretionary trusts and how small businesses will potentially be impacted by the ATO’s rulings.

There’s more to staff incentive schemes than rewards

Although recognising the benefits of introducing a scheme, many businesses don’t consider the financial and tax implications involved and can end up implementing a scheme that costs more than it should or worse isn’t compliant with regulations.

ATO stepping up to stop illegal access to superannuation

The ATO has implemented new rules to prevent individuals from accessing their superannuation funds when rolling over benefits from their APRA regualted accounts to a SMSF, without meeting the specific conditions.

Blog post: How to avoid getting squeezed by interest rate rises and reduced lending

When it comes to interest rates, small businesses have had a rough time lately. They’ve had to cope with tough lending conditions from the big banks and now another interest rate rise. When interest rates rise, small business gets squeezed at both ends.