Top 5 Simple Tax Saving Strategies

Written on the 21 June 2014

Planning on giving to charity?  Make a donation now and claim the deduction this year. If you donate monthly to charities, think about paying the full year’s worth of donations upfront and take the deduction now.

Operate through a company? If you operate through a company structure and the company has advanced you money during the year or paid expenses on your behalf, then work out whether you are going to repay the loans or put in place a complying loan arrangement. If you already have loan agreements in place from prior years, make sure that you make the minimum repayment (including interest) before June 30.  If the company normally declares a dividend to cover these loan repayments, make sure the dividend is declared and set-off against the loan balance before 30 June.

Are your salary sacrifice agreements still relevant? If you have existing salary sacrifice agreements in place, review them to make sure they are still viable. Also, if your taxable income is over $180,000, don’t forget about the debt tax (see the article, can you plan around the debt tax).

For business, if cash flow allows, now is the time to accelerate deductions by paying for any required repairs, replenishing consumable supplies, trade gifts or donations before 30 June.

Run a business? Don’t forget your super. Your personal or company sponsored contributions need to be received by the fund before 30 June to be deductible this year.   Don’t forget to make sure the paperwork is in place and that you don’t breach your concessional contribution caps.