It is increasingly difficult to save enough money for your first home purchase but there are some ways the government can help, such as First Home Super Saver ('FHSS') scheme.

The FHSS scheme allows you to save for your deposit within your superannuation investment account.  There are several key benefits to using your super as the saving structure but the ability to withdraw personal Concessional Contributions may provide a significant tax planning advantage.

Personal Concessi...

ASIC recently published a warning about including crytocurrency ('crypto') investments in Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSF).

Unlike traditional investments crypto investments are difficult to research and rate unlike commonly traded investments such as cash, property, shares.  As a result, the investor is placing their investments at high risk of the return and capital invested.  Further, crypto investments are generally not traded on traditional market platforms such as stoc...

The ATO recently issued a Taxpayer Alert regarding parents that benefit from a trust entitlement of their children over 18 years of age.

It has been common practice for families to distribute trust income to various family members that have different Marginal Tax Rate brackets.  The income may be declared distributed in the trust account and individual tax returns of the parents and children but the "economic benefit" may only reside the parents (i.e. the income is declar...

The Australian Consumer Law ('ACL') has a specific requirements for collecting monies owed and protect the consumer from unfair treatment during the process.

Sometimes debt collectors can be quite aggressive and if this is the case, it is worthwhile contacting the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ('ACCC') to know your rights and report any unfair treatment.

The ACCC recently updated their guide for debt collection (both collectors and creditors) which provides ...

Money scams are increasing and the most popular is 'false billing'. The recent ACCC report "Targeting scams: report of the ACCC on scam activity 2020" highlights the increase of criminals using payment redirection scams whereby they pretend to be a supplier of the business and request payment of a fake invoice using the criminal's bank account details. The criminals usually hack into your email systems, so they know the credible details of your suppliers.  The fak...