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30 March 2024
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Pension payments in super after the age of 60 are tax free and anyone over 65 can switch their super into a pension account even if they do not change their employment. Why do so many continue paying 15% tax?
SMSFs offer unlimited investment flexibility and most trustees make their own decisions but the majority of investments fall into five categories. There remains a strong home bias despite global opportunities.
While the ATO has many ways to watch taxpayer transactions and ensure tax is collected, for some unknown reason, it is legal to select from four different cost base treatments for capital gains tax. It's costing billions.
No entity holds a consolidated view of the taxable income of super, not even the ATO. So Treasury and the Treasurer adopted a simple method to impose a new tax, and the adverse consequences then started to surface.
The end of the 2022 financial year is fast approaching and there are choices available to ensure you pay the right amount of tax. Watch for some pandemic-related changes worth understanding.
The best way to preserve your SMSF’s favoured status is to make sure the fund’s annual return reaches the ATO on time. There are new rules this year that every SMSF trustee should know.
Some of our readers have said family trusts have little merit because of the tight limits on the amount that can be distributed to children paying low tax rates. But the use of bucket companies drives many of the structures.
Make a note of the lodgement deadlines for personal tax returns, and start collecting the information you will need. Unless your affairs are simple, professional help is usually money well spent.
It sounds arcane but it could be costly. For the first time, about 44,000 individuals will receive their first Division 293 notice early in 2019, and it will surprise many.
The ATO has issued an update on illegal early release of super, when an SMSF is worth having, reporting obligations and trustee checklists. Make sure you stay on top of the rules.
A bill that allows the ATO to merge dormant super accounts with active ones and release super members from compulsory life insurance embedded in enterprise agreements and from exit fees was tabled on 21 June 2018.
The use of separate SMSFs for accumulation and pensions stages to minimise tax obligations may attract the ire of the ATO, but there may be other, more legitimate, reasons for using this strategy.
In his recent shareholder letter, Warren Buffett mentions several stocks he expects Berkshire Hathaway will own indefinitely, including Occidental Petroleum. We look at ASX stocks that investors could buy and hold forever.
What are the best stocks to own that can pay regular dividends and beat indices on a total return basis in the long-term? Here is our list of 11 ASX-listed companies that could help investors achieve these goals.
For decades, governments told people to save for retirement, then hold onto their nest eggs. Now, they're concerned that retirees aren't spending enough. How can we encourage reasonable spending patterns in retirement?
The distortions in our tax system have been ignored for too long, and we're now paying the price. It's time Australia got real and addressed the problems to prevent an even greater intergenerational tragedy.
Jim Simons has achieved breathtaking returns of 62% p.a. over 33 years, a track record like no other, yet he remains little known to the public. Here’s how he’s done it, and the lessons that can be applied to our own investing.
For some Australians, there’s a concessionally taxed superannuation investment opportunity dating back to the 2018-19 financial year that will expire on 30 June this year. Here is what you may be entitled to.