Where your employment income (being salary and wages plus reportable fringe benefits plus reportable employer superannuation contributions) is not more than 10% of your total assessable income you can make a concessional contribution into super before 30 June and claim a tax deduction for that amount.
- If 49 years old or over on 30 June 2016 – $35,000
- If under 49 years old on 30 June 2016 – $30,000
For those non-working spouses in receipt of income from Trusts or fully franked dividends from Corporate Beneficiaries, this is an essential tax planning measure that allows you to grow your super in a very tax efficient manner.
Prepayment of expenses before 30 June provided that the prepayment is not for more than 12 months. For example:
- Prepayment of interest on investment property loans
- Prepayment of interest on margin loans or investment portfolio loans
- Prepayment of rent if self employed
- Prepayment of superannuation – but only if you have a self managed superannuation fund
If you have realised a capital gain during the 2017 tax year then you should review your investment portfolio and think about realising any losses to offset the gain. It is silly to pay tax on a gain when there are unrealised losses that could be utilised. When thinking about this strategy please call our office to discuss as it is important to ensure that you have legitimately realised a loss and the transaction will not be one that the ATO could attack as a “wash sale” which would then allow the ATO to deem that the transaction never took place.
Donations above $2.00 to a registered Deductible Gift Recipient are tax deductible. A common error when donating is that people tend to donate in joint names. The donation should be made in the name of the person who is on the highest marginal tax rate to ensure that you maximise the tax efficiency of the donation. Donations made in joint names are required to be split on a 50/50 basis. Also, the purchase of raffle tickets or the buying of pens, or other items, from a charity are not tax deductible as these are not donations.
