On 2 November 2018, the Deputy Commissioner of Small Business, Deborah Jenkins, delivered a keynote address at a conference run by a national accounting body outlining the main tax issues the ATO is seeing in small businesses. These are:

• claiming private expenses through the business;
• how to attribute business and private use to an asset;
• how tax applies to different tax structures used for small business that may be complex and varied;
• not always including all taxable income.

Other easily avoidable errors were also identified. Other areas of focus include:

• cracking down on the ‘Black Economy’;
• assisting small businesses to manage their cash flow and tax debt; and
• Single Touch Payroll (STP).

Click here to read the Deputy Commissioner’s speech in detail.