A common complaint is that accountants aren’t sharing enough of the good stuff, the perks, the loopholes that business owners, small business owners in particular, are eligible for. Often business owners hear about these perks from fully legit* mates at the pub.
So with that in mind, I thought it useful to put together a list of some of the common benefits that can be legally obtained as a business owner (spoiler alert -- it may not be as exciting as you've been lead to believe).
The following are deductions that most businesses can claim a deduction for:
Phone and internet access. After allowing for private usage.
Travel. As long as any leisure time is purely incidental most of your travel can be claimed. Think about relevant conferences or research trips you may need to undertake.
IT equipment. As long as private usage is incidental you can look at computers, tablets, phones, etc.
Motor vehicle. This is a tricky one, but depending on your circumstances it can be beneficial to have the car owned and paid for by the business.
Home office. It’s generally quite simple to claim running costs for working from home. Bit trickier to claim mortgage/rent as it’ll need to be an identifiable ‘place of business’ which exposes the property to CGT if you sell.
Research and reference materials. This could be newspaper and magazine subscriptions, online publications, even streaming services depending on what you do for a living.
The following are concessions available to those operating as small businesses (i.e. turning over under $10 million a year).
Immediate write off for assets costing up to $20,000. This means no need to depreciate assets and claim the cost over multiple years, rather you get a tax deduction straight away. This is great for cash-flow for small businesses as it helps to match the expense with the tax deduction. Please note this threshold changes regularly so best double check before spending up.
Deduction for prepaid expenses. If you prepay costs for up to 12 months in advance they can be claimed when you pay them (e.g. insurance or rent).
Two year amendment period. This means the ATO will generally only seek to make changes to your tax return within a two year window of you lodging the return. For larger, or more complicated, businesses the time frame is four years.
CGT concessions. Whole books have been devoted to the topic, but suffice to say, if you sell your small business, or an asset connected with it, there are generous tax concessions available.
Finally, there is the option to salary package benefits which can also result in tax savings if done correctly. The idea here is that instead of being paid your full salary, you take part as an allowance or some other benefit and take advantage of the resulting tax savings after factoring in Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT).
Motor vehicle including running costs.
Phone, internet, etc.
Travel allowances. These can be quite beneficial as the government set rates are generous and can lead to substantial deductions.
Relocation for work.
Work-related equipment (e.g. phones, computers, etc.).
There are loads of topics I haven’t touched on here such as tax planning and dividend strategies, contributing to superannuation, etc. This post is just meant to get you thinking of things you can legitimately have your business pay for, but always remember, if you've been told something that sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
The above is not intended as advice and is general in nature only. When preparing tax work for clients we review their particular situation to ensure they are getting the benefits they are eligible for. If there’s anything in particular you’d like to discuss please let us know, we’d be delighted to help.
*It has been my experience that people who say ‘fully legit’ are, in fact, not fully legit.