Interim Financial Work Can Save You Thousands In Tax

by Cos Schuh

Following completion of your March quarter business activity statement, it is time for you to consider whether you need to discuss your nine months performance with us.
While many clients are reluctant to incur the costs of having us review their nine months trading figures, we have found that in some instances, the incurring of a few extra hundred dollars in accounting fees can save many tens of thousands of dollars in year-end tax results.

The tax act is a complicated piece of legislation. In many instances, what you as clients do not believe is a problem can become a real issue when we lodge your tax return after June 30.

Only last week, we had an example of a client who believed that by entering into a contract before June 2012 and settling the contract in July 2012, they were pushing the capital gain from the sale of a particular investment into the 2013/14 tax year. They had already developed a strategy to deal with that capital gain in the 2013/14 year.

We discovered when completing their tax return that because the contract was entered into prior to June 2012, the capital gain was treated in the 2012/13 year and the unfortunate outcome was an unexpected capital gains tax bill of $100,000. Obviously, no-one wants to have to deal with a situation like this.

As can be seen from this example, a large tax liability could have been avoided, had appropriate contact been made with the tax agent prior to June 30, 2012.
We are very conscious of our client's willingness to incur accounting fees. If you believe you would benefit from the preparation of some interim trading figures, or a consultation with us regarding your overall tax position, please feel comfortable in asking us for a quote prior to coming to us.

It is very important you are comfortable with the cost of the service provided and understand what value you will receive. If we cannot save you at least as much as we are charging you – we should not be spending your money.

You can call our office on 07 5482 2855 to book your appointment.