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Be in Control of Your Business
SINGLE TOUCH PAYROLL
In July 2018, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) implemented Single Touch Payroll (STP) for all Employers with 20 or more employees. As the next phase of this, the ATO are extending STP for all employers and from 1 July 2019 STP will be mandatory for all employers.
STP is the electronic reporting of tax and super to the ATO by the employer on or before each payroll event (Pay Day). This includes the reporting of Salaries, Wages, allowance, deductions and other payments including Super and PAYG Withholding.
There are some alternate options for Micro Employers (1-4 employees), There will be low cost STP solutions at or below $10 per month for Micro Employers, including simple payroll software, mobile phone apps and portals. There will also be the option for Micro-Employers to use their Tax or BAS Agent to lodge quarterly instead.
It is important to note that reporting STP does not replace Superannuation Reporting to the Superannuation Clearing Houses or Employees Superfund each quarter.
THE CLOUD
Of course “A Cloud” is a collection of water vapours! But ‘The Cloud’ is also a term used to describe an online storage service and/or hosted software. Simply put, ‘Cloud Storage’ is storing your data on a “Cloud Company’s” servers (large banks of computers, usually replicated over several locations). There are many types of Hosts (or Cloud Server Providers), they may store the files, host websites or they may also provide the software to run the files also (as in your Accounting Software Hosts and banking sites).
Never used a Cloud Provide? Perhaps you have, examples of some Cloud Server providers you may have used are; Photos stored on ICloud, or Webmail (Email) such as Hotmail or Gmail.
Before committing to using a Cloud Service, you must first consider a few things.
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- Firstly, do you have a reliable, strong internet with acceptable data limits? After all, No Internet = No Access.
- Secondly, what do you wish to gain?
- Work from multiple devices, anywhere any time?
- Invoice on the fly?
- The reliability of a secure offsite backup?
- Thirdly, do your research! Which country will your data be stored in, what are their privacy laws? What are the Terms & Conditions of the service provider?
- Check for reviews about the providers. This information can generally be found by searching the Internet.
BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Tracking your Sales and Expenses for the purpose of calculating your GST Obligations is not only a legislative requirement, but can also be done in a way to give you the tools to analyse your business. Use this information to produce budgets and cash flow forecast. Know where your business is at, maintain budgets and plan your Cash flow.
Business Plans are not just for the purpose of gaining start up funds, they are also important for Business Continuity. Business Plans can also be a great reference source, at the end of a period of time they can be compared to current position. The business plan can then be revised or modified according to market trends, economic climate or opposition influences. Just take care, even if your business achieved your goals, don’t relax, keep planning.
Some of the biggest financial burdens facing businesses is often the Quarterly GST, Super and PAYG Bills. Many banks offer higher interest on “Online Accounts”, accounts that you can “PARK” you GST, Super and PAYG obligations on a weekly basis, helping to alleviate that large requirement which often strangles cash flow. The added benefit is that you get to earn interest on the GOVERNMENTS money until your obligations are due.
While Budgets and Cash flows are similar, they each serve a different purpose:
- BUDGET: A budget is a prediction of future earnings and expenses for a given period of time, and focuses on the Profits of a business. Its an invaluable tool to help you prioritise your spending and manage your money.
- CASH FLOW FORECAST: A forecast of the movement of available funds. A Cash flow forecast includes not only the Sales Receipts and Payments of a business, but also takes into account Loan and Lease Repayments, payment of Liabilities (BAS and Super) etc. Forecasting helps you to identify potential shortfalls in cash balance and foresee potential problems before they occur.
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS: Who are your top 10 customers, it might surprise you that the customer that takes up most of your time may not actually be your greatest income source. Of your top 10 Customers what are their average days to pay.
WHICH PRODUCT HAS THE GREATEST TURNOVER: Of the products you sell which have the greatest turnover and generate the highest return?
We can help you to track and analyse your business, plan to succeed. Make it your business to know where your money is going and when.
NEW BUSINESS
When starting a new business many Entrepreneurs have a great idea and a business plan, but fail to consider some of the other important aspects of owning a business. For example:
- Your Accountant can advise you which structure is most suited to your financial position.
- The best structure for your entity ie; sole trader/partnership/company/trust.
- What will be most suitable reporting obligations for you Business (Cash or Accrual)?
- How do you intend to meet your BAS obligations at the end of the quarter? For example, if you are starting a Restaurant or Takeaway business you might want to consider that most stock purchases will be GST free while most sales will include GST, therefore your BAS obligation maybe higher in percentage than some other industries.
- If you intend to employ staff, don’t forget that you need to withhold the appropriate amounts of tax from their pay to forwarded to the ATO with your BAS, and that you will also be required to meet your industries Superannuation Guarantee obligations. You will also need to ensure you have the appropriate amount of WorkCover (Insurance).
Some sites of interest might be:
BE IN CONTROL OF YOUR BUSINESS
It is great to have friends, family or staff help you with the more technical sides of your business that you may not understand. But remain in control, know your passwords, make sure password resets etc. are possible by using your own email address and contact numbers for recovery. Ensure that you are always able to revoke permissions if the unthinkable happens.
Don’t allow your valuable Facebook business page to be setup on someone else’s Facebook account.
Should you choose to have a professional take care of your website, do your research, check their reviews and if possible ensure you are able to take back control if needed.
Starting a business can be hard work, and only a business owner can appreciate just how hard. Protect your marketing tools just as you would your real ones.
TAX CODES
A word of advice from your local Reckon Accredited Consultant; pay particular attention to the tax code used and ensure the correct one is used in each transaction. Unique codes are used for Sales and others for Purchases.
Some transactions will have GST applied to only part of them, so they will have to be split.
There are many different Tax Codes available for use. The following is a list of the most commonly used Tax Codes and there applications, but are in no way the only Tax Codes available in Reckon Accounts:
TAX CODES FOR SALES
GST – GST Applicable Sales
FRE – GST Free Sales
TAX CODES FOR PURCHASES
NCF – GST Free
NCG – GST Applicable Purchases
CAG – Capital Acquisitions (Purchases)
CAF – GST Free Capital Acquisitions (Purchases)
