Saving as much tax as possible is one way to give your business a greater chance of success. Australian businesses can claim a number of deductions over the financial year.
Some of the deductions relevant for SMEs include:
- Operating expenses (such as office stationery)
- Capital expenses (machinery and equipment)
- Motor vehicle expenses
- Home-based business expenses
- Travel expenses
- Salaries, wages and superannuation
- Repairs, maintenance and replacement expenses
- Operating expenses
- Depreciating assets and other expenses
- Carbon sink forests.
Each of these deductions must be recorded and reported in specific ways. When claiming car expenses, for example, you may be required to keep a logbook or calculate cents per kilometre.
In the case of travel expenses, you will need to keep a travel diary. Things that can be claimed during travel include airfares, petrol costs, accommodation, and meals. These can also be claimed for employees that are travelling.
If you plan to claim on depreciating assets, it is important that your claims are on items that genuinely have a limited life expectancy. Typically, this will include machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, furniture and computers.
In order to claim any deductions on business-related expenses, you must:
- Keep records of all expenses
- Ensure the expenses were for business use, not personal (if they are a mix of business and private use, you can still claim the portion that was used for business purposes)
- Report all income and deductions when they are due.
Taxation for businesses in Australia is very complex. Most small business owners find it is much simpler to obtain help from experienced small business tax accountants.
At Paris Financial, our tax champions are continually abreast of ever-changing tax laws and will ensure that you are saving as much tax as possible. Most importantly, we do it all 100% legally, so you can rest assured that your tax obligations are being met.
Contact one of our three offices in Mornington, East Melbourne or Blackburn to book in for a free initial consultation with our team.
