Tax time 2009!

Here is a list of what is around the web for our favourite time of the year:

Advanced Guide to capital gains tax concessions for small business 2008-09
This guide explains the capital gains tax (CGT) concessions available for small business

Changes to super for individuals
Provides an overview of changes made to super co-contributions, concessional contributions caps and income tests as a result of the 2009 Federal Budget

Individual PAYG payment summary schedule 2008-09
Information on the PAYG schedules for filling in tax returns

Reporting requirements - changes for the 2009/10 income year
These changes are for the reporting of payments made in the 2009-10 income year. They include:

• the reporting of reportable employer superannuation contributions
• the inclusion of the pension or annuity indicator box
• the inclusion of the lump sum payment A ‘type’ box
• the reporting of exempt foreign employment income
• the removal of the ‘other income’ label.

What is new in e-tax 2009?
Changes to pre-filling in 2009 include:

• an enhanced Alerts service. This year, in addition to notifying you when additional information is available, if you register to receive your alert by email, you will also be advised of the type of data
• private health insurance rebate details
• rental property address details from 2007-08 rental property schedules
• pay as you go (PAYG) income tax instalment amounts
• reminders of letters that we have sent to you throughout the year in relation to:
• your work related expenses, and
• the need to lodge a schedule of work related expenses (SWE).
• family tax benefit (FTB) claim status information has been removed because FTB claims are no longer administrated by the Tax Office.

SaaS - invoicing and Financial Systems

Here is a list of some of the Software as a Service Financial Systems available on the web today. Like all applications, these have their strengths, focus and weaknesses. Also, there are quite a view Invoicing systems available today. The main issue is how do you get that data easily into your financial system. Some do all aspects, like Saasu:

Saasu - This is probably the closest you will get to an online system of the same calibre as MYOB and Quickbooks. It does all of the regular accounting modules you would expect. It allows private branding of your systems as well as invoices,statement and the like. Can be free if you do less than 15 transactions per month.

Invoiceplace - As the name suggest it does invoicing. The twist on this one is that there is an inventory management module. It is pretty limited in that aspect. Payments can be received by PayPal and other payment gateways are coming. The invoicing module allows resending of invoices and statements.

Winkbill - good customisation allowed for templates. Reminders, Invoices, Statements with a Dashboard to give you an overview. Payment gateways are a bit limited.

FreshBooks - the usual plus a Contractor module aimed at making it easier to work with contractors. They can do timesheets and these can be turned into expenses. If you have a lot of contractors, it is worth a look.

Cashboard - Invoicing, time tracking, projects and estimates are the focus for this site.

As you can see there are plenty of companies doing this today. The main features to look for are:

• GST and understanding of ATO rules
• different currencies (most sites are US based)
• ability to download transactions or an API into you main financial system

What would I choose? For my money Saasu covers the bases and has the best upto date modules for ATO compliance.

theBizWiz

http://www.boulterassociates.com.au/
http://www.informgroup.com.au/