How you can benefit from reduced home loan rates.

As a result of everything that has happened this year, we are seeing the lowest interest rates on offer from the major banks in a long time. With rates dropping below 2.5%, now is the best time to get one step ahead on one of your biggest debts.

Whether you’re looking at purchasing a new property, or already have a home loan to pay off, these low rates are going to be in your favour.

If you already have a home loan, the temptation to drop your repayments is there, now that your loan is accruing less interest however, we have some top tips on how to use this drop in interest rates to your advantage and come out the other side a winner:

 

Don’t decrease your repayments.

If you can afford to, leave your repayments at their current rate (or even increase them!) so that you are effectively overpaying on your loan. By simply putting away an extra $50 on top of your minimum repayments you could save yourself over $14,000 in interest over the life of your loan (based on a $300,000 loan with 5% interest over 25 years) – more money in your pocket!

 

Choose a fixed loan.

Fixing all or part of your home loan is the best way to take advantage of the low rates and protect yourself against sudden rate increases over the next few years. This gives you some peace of mind that you won’t be surprised by any sudden or dramatic rate increases and you’ll know exactly how much you need to put away each month to make the repayments.

 

Open an offset account.

Some loans come with the ability to offset your savings account against your home loan. This in turn reduces the interest you pay on your home loan, by offsetting the interest your savings accrues. This is another way to add a buffer to the amount of interest you pay on your home loan.

At The Hrkac Group, our Finance team can help you find the right loan, set up an interest rate to suit your needs. Give us a call today on 5224 2366 with your questions.

As one of the hardest-hit groups throughout COVID restrictions, The Government is now encouraging businesses to employ workers aged between 16 and 35 who were receiving income support in the last 3 months.

The new JobMaker Hiring Credit will provide employers with an incentive payment for each additional eligible worker hired after October 7^th, 2020 which will help to subsidise the costs associated with additional workers for the next 12 months.

The payments will be made to employers directly if their nominated employees are between the ages of 16 and 35 when they began employment and they were receiving one of the following income support services: JobSeeker, Youth Allowance or Parenting Payment consistently for 1 month at least, in the last three months.

Applications are open for employers to register for the JobMaker Hiring Credit as of December 6^th, 2020 and you do not need to register before you hire eligible employees. For workers between the ages of 16 and 29, you (the employer) will receive $200 a week, and for those workers aged between 30 and 35 you will receive $100 a week in support.

There will be eight claim periods between now and early October 2021. The first claim period begins on February 1^st (for employment between 7/10/20 and 6/1/21) and payments will be made in arrears.

You can find more information about this scheme here:

JobMaker Hiring Credit Scheme

Key Dates

Registration

Please reach out to The Hrkac Group if you have any questions or need assistance with the JobMaker Hiring Scheme.

As part of the Victorian Governments Business Resilience Package, details about the different grants available to industries have been announced.

The $3 billion put forward is to help Victoria businesses feeling the ongoing effects of Covid-19 restrictions, move to Covid-normal operating levels.

See details about each new package below:  

Outdoor Eating and Entertainment Package

This Package is designed to help businesses create safe outdoor dining spaces. Grants of up to $5,000 will be available to hospitality industries with an annual payroll of less than $3 million to enable outdoor spaces to be set up, adapted and expanded. These venues must be located outside the City of Melbourne local government area.

Full eligibility criteria will be in the application due to come out on Monday 28^th September, 2020. More information.  

Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund

This grant is designed to assist hospitality businesses with cash flow and support them to survive trading restrictions. Grants of up to $30,000 will be available to eligible businesses based on location and patron capacity.

**Please note businesses eligible for the Licensed Hospitality Venue Grant will NOT be eligible for the third round of the Business Support Fund Grant.

Full eligibility criteria will be in the application which will open in the coming days. More information.  

Sole Trader Support Fund

This grant is primarily for eligible sole traders that operate from commercial premises or locations. Grants of $3,000 will be received by those sole traders to help see them through the restricted trading period.

Full eligibility criteria will be in the application which will open in the coming days. More information.

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Please visit previous blog posts for more information on the support available to Victorian businesses:

Business Support Fund Round 3 JobKeeper Extensions Instant Asset Write-Off Extension Covid-19 Business Guide

If you need assistance with applying for the available grants, please contact us at the office to organise an appointment.

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**Applications are now open.

The Victorian Government has recently announced more support measures as ongoing help to businesses that have been impacted by the restrictions imposed, through the new Business Resilience package.

$3 billion will be available to Victorian Businesses in varying formats to help prepare everyone for Covid-normal operations.

Amongst the support on offer is round 3 of the Support Fund where grants of up to $20,000 will be made available, as well as: up to $30,000 grants for Hospitality venues; up to $3,000 for Sole Traders and up to $20,000 for Alpine businesses.

Below is a link to the Business Victoria website outlining the range of grants as well as other forms of support now available including funding, tools, resources, and waivers and deferrals for tax support:

Business Resilience Package.  

Applications are now open and close at 11.59pm on 23^rdNovember, 2020 or when funds are exhausted.

Your business must have an ABN that falls within the ANZSIC codes that have been deemed as eligible to qualify.

How to apply.  

**Please note businesses eligible for the Licensed Hospitality Venue Grant will NOT be eligible for the third round of the Business Support Fund Grant.

If you require any assistance please do not hesitate to contact our office. We are here to help.

The JobKeeper Scheme has now been extended to include any eligible employees who were employed as of 1st July 2020 and are not currently nominated by an employer for JobKeeper payments.

Under the new ‘one in, all in’ principle for JobKeeper, employers must have their new employee nomination notices lodged by August 24th, to be covered under the scheme. This eligibility retest allows employees who weren’t eligible for the scheme initially to be captured and included in the extension.

This retest will allow new employees hired after March 1st, long-term casuals, and those who now qualify based on age or visa status to be able to receive payments from 3rd August 2020 – this is Fortnight 10 under the current JobKeeper Scheme. Employers must pay Fortnight 10 and 11 by August 31st to qualify.

The clock is ticking. You can find more information about this urgent update on the ATO website here or you can call us at the office on 03 5222 2366. IMPORTANT: Employers must provide a nomination form to employees to complete by 24th August 2020 and also have paid their employees the JobKeeper amount of $1500 per fortnight for Fortnight 10 and Fortnight 11 by the 31st August to qualify.

With new stage 3 and stage 4 restrictions in place as of August across Victoria, the Business Support Fund grants have been extended to accommodate further impacts to businesses as a result.

Businesses who employ staff in Victoria who are impacted by stay-at-home restrictions and operating at a limited capacity, or no longer operating, may be eligible to receive one-off grant payments under this Expansion program.

To support businesses that have encountered hardship due to current restrictions, one-off grants will be made available to eligible businesses under the Business Support Fund – Expansion program:

• $10,000 for employing businesses in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire in recognition of spending longer under restrictions (if your business has already applied for the initial $5,000 grant under Stage 3 restrictions you will automatically receive the additional $5,000 and do not need to re-apply)
• $5,000 for employing businesses in regional local government areas (except Mitchell Shire)

In order to apply for the Expansion package, all businesses in both Metro Melbourne and Regional Victoria must meet all of the following criteria:

• operate a business located within Victoria;
• be a participant in the Commonwealth Government’s JobKeeper Payment scheme;
• employ people;
• be registered with WorkSafe on 30 June 2020;
• have an annual payroll of less than $3 million in 2019-20 on an ungrouped basis;
• be registered for Goods and Services Tax (GST) as of 30 June 2020;
• hold an Australian Business Number (ABN) and have held that ABN at 30 June 2020; and
• be registered with the responsible Federal or State regulator.

** Please note applications close on 14^th September 2020.

Visit the Business Victoria website for more information here. View the Expansion program Fact Sheet here.

If you need assistance assessing your eligibility or preparing your application, we are here to help. Contact us on 03 5224 2366 to get started today.

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Originally announced in March 2020, the JobKeeper Payment scheme was introduced to allow employers, sole traders, and other entities, who are significantly impacted by COVID-19, to continue paying their employees’ wages and keep Australian’s employed.

This Government scheme was intended to close on September 27^th, 2020 however it was announced this week that a six-month extension has been given to the subsidy payments.

Under the current scheme, employers can apply to receive $1,500 per employee per fortnight as a subsidy to assist in paying wages. Under the latest revisions, this payment amount will continue to be claimable until September 27^th, 2020 where the payment will then be reduced to $1,200 per fortnight per employee. From this date, new lower payment rates will also apply for employees that work less than 20 hours a week.

Further reductions in payments will be made from January 4^th, 2021, where the fortnightly subsidy will reduce to $1,000 per employee. The scheme is now projected to finish on March 28^th, 2021.

From September 28^th, businesses and not-for-profits will need to reassess their eligibility for the quarter, to demonstrate their continued decline in turnover.

The application process remains the same and will continue to be open to new recipients during the extension period, providing they meet eligibility requirements.

For more information on the extension and further eligibility requirements from September onwards click here.

For more information on how to check your eligibility and apply to receive JobKeeper payments click here.

There is more detailed information on what steps businesses are required to take each month in order to continue to receive the subsidy payments. You can view that information here.

If you need any assistance with applying for the JobKeeper scheme, please contact the Hrkac Group on 03 5224 2366 and we will help you through the process.

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To support a substantial amount of residential construction workers, the Australian Government has introduced a new HomeBuilder package to inject $688 million into the industry, which is falling as a result of COVID-19.

Seeing a drop in approvals of ~2%* since March, the Building Industry is still feeling the effect this pandemic is continuing to cause.

This $25,000 grant comes with income and valuation eligibility requirements as well as restrictions on what type of construction the funds can be used for.

Homeowners will be able to use the money to put towards building a new owner-occupier home or any substantial renovations on their primary place of residence.

To be eligible to receive the one-off cash payment, singles must earn less than $125,000 and couples $200,000 between them, in the previous financial year. The building work contract must be signed between now and December 31, with works to begin within 3 months of the contract date.

For homeowners wishing to renovate, their renovation costs must be valued between $150,000 and $750,000, with the home valued as less than $1.5 million (before the renovations) to be eligible.

For people looking to build a new home to live in, the house and land must be valued at less than $750,000 to be able to take part in the incentive.

  Types of construction not covered in the incentive:

• swimming pools, tennis courts, outdoor spas and saunas, sheds, or garages.
• new builds or renovations of any investment properties

  The new HomeBuilder Package will be available alongside any current first homeowner incentives in place by governments in each state and territory.

Contact Paul Duncan at The Hrkac Group and our lending team for more information on the HomeBuilder Grant, how to apply, and to assess if you’re eligible.

* Source.

HG Financial Services – Corporate Authorised Representative 401592 of Alliance Wealth Pty Ltd  ABN: 93 161 647 007 AFSL: 449221

As part of the Government’s measures to support businesses survive the economic impact of COVID-19, the instant asset write-off (IAWO) threshold amount was increased from $30,000 to $150,000 as of 12^th March, 2020.

Initially intended to end on 30^th June 2020 and revert back to different, less beneficial depreciation rules from the 1^st July 2020; the Federal Government has decided to extend the period up to and including the 31^st December, 2020. This proposed extension is currently being processed by the Government, and is yet to be finalised at the time of posting this blog (see here for more information).

This IAWO increase is available to all businesses with an annual turnover of less than $500 million and will help to further support planned investments for around 3.5 million businesses in Australia.

Here are the facts:

• Eligible businesses will be able to claim immediate deductions on their annual turnover for assets purchased for $150,000 or less (excluding GST where applicable)
• There is a cap for some “Motor Vehicle” purchases – which are limited to a maximum of $57,581 for the 19/20 Tax Year ($59,136 for the 20/21 Tax Year)
• This deduction will be claimable on a PER asset basis (i.e. you can write off multiple assets at $150,000 each) (grouping rules do apply in some instances)
• To be eligible your business must have an annual turnover of less than $500 Million
• This IAWO increase is in effect from 12^th March 2020 until December 31^st, 2020 for assets first used and installed by the end date
• This will result in a lower payable tax amount at the end of the financial year

We will endeavour to keep you updated on when this extension is confirmed by the Government. In the meantime, if you have any questions or queries relating to the IAWO increase please contact our Accounting team here.

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It’s that time of year again, and although it’s been a bumpy 2020 so far, your tax appointment doesn’t need to be stressful. If you’re prepared with the right paperwork, receipts, and statement information, you are on track for a hassle-free appointment with the Hrkac Group Accounting team.

Our Accounting team has prepared some handy checklists for both Personal and Business tax return appointments. You can use these as a guide for what you might need to bring with you/have them handy for your appointment this year.

 

Personal Tax Return Checklist

Top items to bring:

• A copy of last year’s Tax Return
• PAYG/Group Certificates
• Receipts for claims/deductions
• Self-Education costs
• Private Health Insurance Annual Taxation Statement

Download the full checklist here:

Working from home?

If you have been working from home over the past few months, you may be able to claim work-related expenses on your tax return.

For more information on what you can and can’t claim, visit the ATO website:

Working from Home Information.

Business Tax Return Checklist

Top items to bring:

• Back up or invite your Hrkac Accounting specialists to your accounting program
• Capital purchase documentation
• Payroll records

Not all items on these checklists may apply to your return and you don’t have to bring these to your appointment, but they can be handy to keep on file for next year. If you are unsure about any of the items on the checklist, bring as much information as you can to your appointment, and we can help you know what is relevant to your tax return.

Book online

The Hrkac Group is ready to take your Tax Return appointments for 2020, whether it be in person, over the phone or via video call – the choice is yours.

You can make your appointment online with John, James, Shane or Linda by clicking the button below.

When you arrive for your appointment, please take the time to read our COVID-19 policy notice at the entrance, before entering. We ask if you are feeling unwell, to please reschedule your in person appointment to a later date or contact our office to change your appointment to a Zoom/Phone appointment.

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Many businesses are experiencing great difficulties due to the COVID 19 Pandemic, with a significant or even complete drop in turnover.

The Federal and State Governments have announced restrictions on landlords taking action against tenants for falling behind on rent. The new measures also require that tenants and landlords negotiate in good faith to try to reach an agreement.

The COVID-19 Omnibus Emergency Measures Act and Regulations 2020 have been passed and they set out the rights and responsibilities of the parties involved in Commercial Leases and Licences.

As stated in the Act, if the landlord and tenant reach an agreement on any rent reduction then, that agreement will remain in place as long as both parties agree to do so.

In order for a tenant to be eligible for rent relief the following must apply:

• The lease is an ‘eligible lease’ pursuant to the regulations;
• The tenant must be small to medium enterprise (SME), and;
• The tenant must be a participant in the JobKeeper scheme.

If an agreement hasn’t or can’t be reached, then the tenant should immediately write to the landlord:

• Stating that the lease is an eligible lease and the lease is not excluded from the operation of these Regulations (under section 13(3) of the Act);
• Provide evidence that the tenant is an SME and is a participant in the JobKeeper scheme

Once received, under The Act the landlord must offer rent relief within 14 days.

If an agreement still cannot be reached between the parties then either the landlord or the tenant may refer the dispute to the Small Business Commissioner for mediation.  

Here at the Hrkac Group, we’re here to help.

If you are a tenant and you have qualified for the JobKeeper scheme and you need a rent reduction, you should immediately write to your landlord.

As part of our professional services, the Hrkac Groups Legal team is across the latest measures and can offer assistance with rent relief negotiations.

Contact us today on 03 5224 2366.