Mesopotamia is a historical region covering the Tigris–Euphrates river system. The region corresponds to most of Iraq, Kuwait, the eastern parts of Syria, and regions along the Turkish-Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders. Mesopotamia is the birthplace of some of the most important developments in human history, including the invention of the wheel, irrigation systems, the planting…
The window tax was a property tax based on the number of windows in a house. It was designed to impose tax relative to the prosperity of the taxpayer, with the logic being that the rich had bigger houses with more windows, so should pay more tax than the poor (with fewer windows). The tax…
A beard tax is one of several taxes introduced throughout history on men who wear beards. In 1535, King Henry VIII of England (who wore a beard himself), introduced a tax on beards. The tax was a graduated tax, varying with the wearer’s social position. Although there are contemporary documents evidencing that beard-pulling was a…
The general anti-avoidance rules contained in Part IVA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) (‘Part IVA’) may be applied by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to deny a taxpayer the tax benefit of a scheme they have entered into. The key features of Part IVA include the following: Is there a scheme? Has…
The top 8 illegal business tax saving strategies are: Illegal cash economy – The ATO estimates about 1.6 million businesses (mostly micro and small businesses with an annual turnover up to $15 million) operating across 233 industries are part of the illegal cash economy. Tax Justice Network spokesman, Mark Zirnsak, said the ATO’s data…
The top 7 illegal employee tax saving strategies in Australia are: Employees or contractors not declaring cash wages. Not reporting capital gains on the sale of shares or property. Not declaring interest, dividend or rental income. Not declaring overseas income like wages, capital gains, rent, etc. Claiming private expenditure as a work deduction…
The Low-Income Superannuation Tax Offset ((LISTO) allows individuals with an adjusted taxable income of $37,000 or less to receive an effective refund of the tax paid on their concessional contributions, up to a cap of $445. The offset cuts out completely at a taxable income of $66,667.
There is nothing wrong with being a novice tax planner (it’s actually very exciting taking the challenge and starting the journey to learn something new). But the most important thing we need to do is just follow Plato’s advice and make a start. Over time we will build our skills and hopefully move to at…
In the novice stage, a person follows rules as given, without context, with no sense of responsibility beyond following the rules exactly. Competence develops when the individual develops organisational principles to quickly access the particular rules that are relevant to the specific task at hand; hence, competence is characterised by active decision making in choosing…
This quote by Plato, the Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, sums up the central issue some accountants have with tax planning – they just cannot get started. The day to day grind of servicing the needs of compliance clients leaves them with…
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"You’d be stupid not to try to cut your tax bill and those that don’t are stupid in business"
- Bono: U2