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What your accountant never told you · The Money Puzzle

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to this episode of The Money Puzzle.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, James Gerrard, standing in again for James Kirby,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: who will be back next week. In our last episode,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: we had property developer Daichi Samohara, who gave us an
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: insider's view on the world of property development. And today,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: we're going to continue with the theme of looking under
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the hood, but this time, all things tax and accounting.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: To help me do this, we have a superstar of
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the accounting world. And to give our listeners an idea
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: of the stardom our guest has, when he's spotted at
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: accounting conventions... Fellow accountants drop their pencils and calculators in all.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: And when our guest goes to his local shopping center,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: he's treated like a celebrity, mobbed by adoring fans who
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: are holding their 2023 tax returns, wanting to grab our
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: guest's attention and garnish his autograph. So without further delay,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: let me introduce you to today's guest. He's an accountant
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: and he's actually my accountant. I've known him for over
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: 20 years. A big money puzzle. Welcome to Central Coast accountant,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Timothy Ricardo. Welcome, Tim, and how about that for an intro, hey?
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Well, thanks, James. I give it an embarrassing factor of 10,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: so it's right up there.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Fantastic.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: All right, well, let's get straight into it. We're going
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: to have a chat about end of financial year tax
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: planning because it's upon us this time of year again,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: but maybe not directly related to that to start up with,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: but electric vehicles, the prices are dropping. And so I
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: wanted to ask, is it worthwhile considering one from a
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: tax perspective under a novated lease?
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Well, this is one of your favourite topics, I think, James.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: You just want to talk about your own electric car,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: I do. You actually caught me.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you some questions and not have
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: you charge me for our time.
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, fair enough. Well, look, the short answer is yes.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: You know, you should definitely consider it, especially if you
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: want to get an EV car anyway, because they can
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: be a It can be a real tax saver getting
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: it through a novated lease. And, you know, 100% tax
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: exempt sounds too good to be true, but that seems
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: to be the case at the moment. So, yeah, definitely
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: worth considering if you're interested in an EV car.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: Excellent.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: So it sounds like a very attractive way to fund EVs.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: A vehicle– and so, novated leases are pretty tax-effective anyway,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: but under the electric vehicle discount scheme that came in
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: a little while ago, it makes it even more attractive. So,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: moving on to stage three tax cuts, they start from
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: 1 July. They were introduced by the coalition and amended
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: recently by the Labor government. So, Timothy, is there anything
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: that people need to do? given that tax rates are
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: higher this financial year for most, and they'll be slightly
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: lower next financial year for most.
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: I think knowing that the brackets are coming down, we
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: want to generally bring forward deductions into this financial year,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: which is a pretty common thing you do anyway for
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: tax planning, because it sort of gets the benefits sooner.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: But you may also get that benefit at a higher
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: tax rate, which means that you're saving more money as
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: if you're compared to deferring it to next year. But
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: And secondly, obviously, on the other side is deferring your
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: income to next year. So if you're a small business
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: owner and you're wanting to try to manage your tax planning,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: trying to push your income or dividends into next year,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: if you can make use of the lower tax rates, yeah,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: that's definitely something to look at.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and for.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Low-income earners, I think you mentioned recently in the breakfast
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: show the other day, James, about the new– pay rise
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: from the low income earners.
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: What are they getting?
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: That's right. Well, I'll just recap that.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: So the Fair Work Commission, they do an annual wage
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: review of the minimum wage and they introduced a 3.75%
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: increase this year, which is in line with inflation.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: The broader inflation rate is 3.6%.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: So I thought that was interesting to bring up because
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: in line with the tax cuts as well, I looked
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: up the The low-income earners, they're going to be getting
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: another $ 16 in the hand per week on top of
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: their $ 23 from that. So you're almost at $ 40 a
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: week extra for those lower-income earners with the two of
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: these combined. So, yeah, that's pretty good. But across the board,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: everyone seems to be benefiting and some more than others. But, yeah,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: so that's something else to look forward to with these
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: tax cuts coming in.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: And what about people who are retired, who draw down
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: a pension from their super account, particularly those people that
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: were taking the reduced minimums, which went on for, was
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: it like four or five financial years? Is there anything
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: that they should be considering this financial year?
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: Definitely. Okay.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: So this is a good 30th of June sort of
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: tax planning issue to bring up with all those retirees,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: the ones who have self-managed supers or even the ones
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: that have pensions with their funds. They want to make
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: sure that they're complying. And I think the pension reduction,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: it was half the rate of what it normally is.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: So definitely for this financial year, double check your minimum
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: withdrawal so that your pension can stay compliant because otherwise
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: there's a whole lot of messy admin work that needs
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: to be done. And yeah, you might lose some tax
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: benefits there. So So, yeah, at the end of each year,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: we usually give a letter to all of our, when
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: we finish their tax, to all of our self-managed super clients.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: And they've got in black and white there what they
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: need to draw down on. So you should always double
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: check your end of year paperwork and make sure that
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: you've got that amount drawn down before 30th of June,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: which I think for a 65-year-old, just to give an example,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Two and a half percent was what it used to be.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: And that's now been brought under the halving. And now
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: it's been brought back up to five percent. So it's
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: a pretty significant change.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: I guess the fortunate thing is that people who are
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: in retail or industry super funds, the trustee of those funds,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: So if you're an industry fund with like Australian Super,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: if you're a retail fund with say BT, the trustee
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: will say, hey, you need to increase your pension payments
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: and make sure you take out the minimum. You were
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: taking 2.5%, but this financial year you need to take
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: out 5%. But it's probably the people in the self-managed
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: super funds who are the ones that are potentially going
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: to be caught out because they're the trustee themselves and
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: they're the one responsible for making sure that they meet
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: the minimum requirements.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: Is that right, Tim?
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: That's right, yeah.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Good. Moving on to family trusts.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: I read about this recently in The Australian, and it
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: was quite interesting that there's some things that people need
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: to do before the end of the financial year if
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: they run their own family trust, generally in conjunction with
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: their advisor being a tax accountant on the trust.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Did you want to run through what that is?
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, certainly.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: So the main one is to make sure you get
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: your resolutions in place for your income distribution. ATO has
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: done a lot of work in this space in the
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: last few years in sort of making sure that people
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: are making their resolutions. And if not, you can be
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: caught out paying the highest marginal rate of tax inside
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: the trust if it's left undistributed. So you've got to
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: make sure you do a resolution, make sure that resolution
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: is compliant with your deed. And, yeah, I guess also
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: making sure that you've– paid through that amount to your
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: beneficiary which you've got a little bit of time to
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: do that but um but you need to make sure
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: that you you're doing what you're saying you're going to
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: do in that resolution it's very.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Important and for individuals does this apply the instant tax
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: write-off i believe there's an amount and you can run
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: through the the details of how many thousands of dollars
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: people can buy things for and then write them off
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: straight away is that was that more a business thing.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah that's uh definitely a business thing james the um
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: businesses can, I think they've passed it in the last budget,
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: it's $ 20, 000. Now, this is a massive change from last
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: year where we had temporary full expensing under the sort
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: of COVID honeymoon rates there where they were letting everyone
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: write off everything they bought.
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: So people would go and buy.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: A new piece of equipment, could be $ 100, 000, $ 500, 000, they'd
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: claim the whole thing and write it off. But They've
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: reduced that back down to a meagre $ 20, 000 as soon
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: as all the budget provisions pass the parliament. But, yeah,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: that's only for businesses and individuals. They're sort of stuck
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: with the usual $ 300 threshold, which is very old and
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: dates back to the 80s or whenever it was that
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: it was put as a, what is an asset and
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: over that amount need to depreciate. So if you're going
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: to go buy that computer for $ 1, 000 in your personal tax,
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: you need to depreciate it. But yes, it's $ 300, anything
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: less than that, you can write it straight off.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: So yeah.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Good.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: And June is a very popular trading time for the
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: share market. There's a lot of volume that goes through
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: and that's partially attributed to people selling things in June
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: for tax reasons. Do you want to run us through
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: at a high level what people can and can't do
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: with regards to selling shares for a loss? Can they
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: just buy the exact same shares back in July? I
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: know that the ATO have a thing called wash.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: Sales, which they don't really like. So yeah, maybe if
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: you can run us through all that.
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: So you've said it there, basically acting, doing things for
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: the sake of tax. Now, the ATO have, you know,
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: tax avoidance rules, which are basically if you're making a
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: decision just for the sake of saving tax, then you've
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: got a bit of a problem. Now, it's obviously everybody
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: does things that are tax effective and they try to
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: do things that are tax effective. But if you're specifically
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: coming up to the end of financial year and you're
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: trying to save some money on tax and you go, oh,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: I've got these shares sitting there at a $ 20, 000 loss,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: so I'll sell those shares and lock in that loss
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: so that I can offset that against my other gains.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: And then maybe I just buy back exactly the same
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: parcel of shares the next day or even the same day.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: It's not going to fly with the ATO because they
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: basically call that a wash sale. It's purely done for
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: the tax advantage of it, and they don't see it
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: as a decision that's been made for any other reason
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: other than that. And that's when you can fall afoul
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: of the ATO. But essentially, you've got to be considering
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: if you're doing it for a financial decision, which is
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: more in your camp there, James. So if you've got clients,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: they've got a good reason to sell things. and obviously
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: it works for them to be doing that towards the
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: end of financial year and there's also tax advantages to
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: do that, then that shouldn't be a problem. And then
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: later on, if they want to change their mind on
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: that and there's another financial reason behind that, then that's
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: a different issue. But it's more if you're just making
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: that decision, you know, just for the sake of tax avoidance.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: That's crystal clear.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: End of financial year, we've been talking about this now
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: for 10 minutes. What I want to ask in the
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: final part of this part of our chat is around
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: who should be having a tax planning meeting with their accountant?
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Because we hear that term thrown around, tax planning, end
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: of financial year. Is it people that run businesses? Should
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: an individual who's a pay-as-you-go with one investment property, should
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: they be contacting their accountant? What sort of relevant circumstances
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: should people have to be warranting a tax planning meeting?
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: Meeting. Right.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Well, I think I do often get asked by people,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: can we talk about my tax? And they might just
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: be an individual with just a wage that's coming through
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: and they've already spent what they've spent on things. They're
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: not going to buy any more or do anything different.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: There's not a lot of point to them having a
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: tax planning meeting, paying hundreds of dollars to an accountant
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: or even thousands for them to run through things with
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: them if they can't do much. But obviously, the benefit
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: comes more when you've got complex tax structures and things
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: like trusts and companies. And also, maybe you have a
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: lot of capital gains and different assets that you own.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Maybe you have a family trust with other other investments
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: that are bought and sold, or maybe you have even
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: property and you just want to see where you could
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: be sitting. Like with property owners, quite often people might,
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: in their tax planning meeting, might consider maybe prepaying a
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: few things, which might bring forward a few deductions if
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: that's going to benefit them in this financial year. So look,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: it's all about scale and it's all about what you
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: can do. Your accountant should be able to give you
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: a good idea just to you know, quickly whether or
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: not one would benefit you. But, yeah, it is quite
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: common for me to say, oh, look, it's probably not
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: going to be worth your while once you consider the cost. But, yeah,
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: those with businesses, yeah, pretty well it could benefit them.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: It's just whether or not they, you know, how much
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: it's going to benefit them really.
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: And that makes sense.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: So horses for courses, common sense applies. The more complex
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: your situation is, the more likely it is that.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: You should have a tax planning meeting.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: But it sounds like anyone can have a tax planning
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: meeting if they're an accountant. They're just going to be
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: charged for it and the benefit might not be exceeding
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: what the cost is. Yeah. All right. Well, I'm very
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: excited to get on to our next segment. It's around
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: I heard a friend say this at a barbecue. Can
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I do this as well? But before we jump into that,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: let's take a short break. Hello and welcome back to
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: The Money Puzzle. I'm James Gerrard, writer, contributor to the
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Wealth section of The Australian and also founder of financialadvisor.com.au.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: This week on the show, I have Timothy Ricardo, Certified
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Practicing Accountant from Central Coast of Sydney. Now, before we
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: get started on this particular part of the episode, I
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: just want to remind all of our listeners that everything
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: that we discussed is general information and should not be
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: taken as personal tax or personal financial advice. So, please
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: seek out a qualified advisor before making any decisions. Now, Timothy,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: I've compiled a list of questions that I've heard over
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: the years in regards to tax. And most of these
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: have come about from someone saying, I was at a
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: barbecue and my friend told me that they're doing this.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Why can't I do this? Or I was at a
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: party and someone told me they're doing this. Or I
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: was in a taxi and a taxi driver said that
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: he's doing this. So I've got a good dozen or
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: so of these questions. Are you ready to confirm or
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: dispel these tax myths?
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this sounds like it's going to be... quite a
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: painful one here, James. I think this is probably why
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: I don't attend many barbecues, apart from.
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: The obvious of, you know, always too busy to do so.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: All right, well, here we go. The first one.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: If I have a family trust, can I distribute $ 416,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: which is the tax-free threshold for a minor, to each
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: of my 50 nieces and nephews as a tax-free distribution?
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: So that would be an extra $ 20, 000 per year tax-free
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: if somebody distributed $ 416 to 50 people under the age
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: of 18 who are family members. So what do you
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: reckon about that one, Tim?
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Wow, that's a lot of nieces and nephews there, James.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: I think I've got, what is it, 16? nieces and nephews,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: so I thought I was doing pretty well, but 50,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: that's a good number. Look, I think it wouldn't be
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: recommended as an initial comment, mainly because the ATO's focus
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: on distributions and making sure you're following through on those
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: distributions and issues surrounding just paper distributions and then taking
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: the money yourself. But it's also a risky practice anyway,
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: distributing to a whole lot of people, because perhaps your
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: deed doesn't allow you to distribute to them. Or maybe
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: you have a family trust election in place, which doesn't
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: allow you to distribute to nephews and nieces. So you
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: can talk to your accountant about that one, but it's
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: certainly not a case of 20 grand tax-free in your
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: pocket if you decide to distribute to your 50 nieces
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: and nephews.
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: Do you know all their names, James? I do.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: My beautiful wife, Kiara, she's Vietnamese and her parents, both
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: of them have large families. So her mother is like
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: one of 12 and her dad's about the same. And
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: so almost everybody is family one way or another. So
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: picture this scene, Timothy, family barbecue happens to be a
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: bank nearby with an ATM and there's a line with
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: 50 little kids there. and someone's standing there pulling out
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: $ 420 at a time and distributing it to each of
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: the 50 nieces and nephews, and the trustee says that
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: that can be done.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: How are we feeling about that now?
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Look, I'm feeling terrible about it, James, but that's okay.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: I think we're going to keep moving. Keep moving.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: Give me the next one.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: All right, I'm a contractor.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Can I operate through a P2I limited structure to reduce
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: my tax bill by having multiple shareholders to pay income to?
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: So just to elaborate on that a little bit more,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: a contractor, rather than they contract and invoice themselves and
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: pay up to 47% tax, the question here is can
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: we just use a company structure and invoice and I
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: can split my income to multiple people through that company
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: structure so I don't have to pay 47% tax? Okay, so....
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: I think there's a lot could be said about this one.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: I've had this question recently. It's a pretty common thing,
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: people wanting to try to use structures as a bit
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: of a sham business, you know, to try to distribute income.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: The bottom line is you just need to watch out
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: for what's called personal incomes, the personal services income provisions,
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: and the ATO don't really allow you to split what–
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: psi what's called psi income um so they uh what
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: they're looking at doing there would probably be contrary to
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: the rules uh you just need to look at how
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: the business is running whether it satisfies other um conditions
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: 80 20 rule results test to see if maybe it's
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: um a personal services business um but generally the questions
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: uh surrounding these is to try to make people um
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: like i said set up businesses that um that are
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: not really businesses and, yeah, they're charading as such.
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: So, yeah, watch out.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, so it sort of sounds like the tax office,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: just look at intentions. If something looks like you're doing
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: something to try and get around paying tax illegitimately, they're
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: probably going to rule it that way in short.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Well, they've probably already got rules in place to close
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: those loopholes. But, yeah, certainly if that's your taxi cab
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: driver giving you that advice, James, I'd be very wary.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: Zero from two. Let's see if we can get a
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: yes on something.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Can I become a tax resident of a tax-free country
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: such as Vanuatu? and then register a business there, start
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: invoicing through that and pay no tax.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: It sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: It sounds amazing. Except that I'd be out of a
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: job if I moved over there. That's the only problem, James,
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: not having any tax to pay. But for all of
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: our Vanuatu listeners, potentially they could be over there and operating.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: But for any of you who want to actually live
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: and reside or have a home or work in Australia,
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: then most of the time the answer is going to
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: be no, James. So I don't think that that's really
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: a viable option if you're in Australia and operating in Australia. And, yeah,
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: there's lots of complex rules here. You need to talk
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: to your advisors about this one, particularly if you may
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: be looking at a dual sort of citizenship or residency.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: There's all sorts of– tax residence issues to consider there.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: So it sounds like if you live in Australia, work
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: in Australia, there's no way or it's unlikely to be
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: able to be classified as a VATU and tax resident
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and pay no tax.
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: Well, let's try again.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Can we buy an investment property or investment properties all
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: around the country and travel to them and claim the
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: travel costs as a tax deduction because I'm going to
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: inspect my investment property and coincidentally it lines up with
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: a school holiday and they just might take a bit
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: of extra time staying in that location as well.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: So this one's been a no as well, James. You
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: should have mixed these up a bit more and put
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: some yes ones in there, but I... feel like a
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: bit of a wet blanket. But no, travel has not
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: been allowed with rental properties since 2017, something like that.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: So it's been a number of years now that travel
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: can't be claimed. But also with holiday homes, you've got
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: to be careful because you've got to reduce your claims
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: when you're using them personally as well. So there's also
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: a bit of another trap to be watching out for
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: when you're when you're looking at holiday investment properties.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: Okay, well, I'm determined to get a yes out of you.
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: Let's try this one. Assume I have a.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Dog and I work from home as well. Can I
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: claim my dog food and pet bills as a expense
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: because my dog, although it's a chihuahua, doubles as a
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: guard dog?
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: Once again, yes.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Like I said, I don't attend many barbecues. If these
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: are the type of questions I don't think I'll go
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: to any time soon. But generally no, well, pretty well
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: that's going to be a no, especially if it's a
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: chihuahua there, James. But some businesses that require legitimate guard dogs,
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: you know, then, you know, they can sort of claim
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: those sort of expenses for those barbecues. for looking after
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: their guard dogs and that sort of thing. But for
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: your general run-of-the-mill sort of home office worker, that's going
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: to be a definite no. Okay.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: I feel like there's a yes coming on this one.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: who can claim gym membership as a tax deduction? So
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: if someone asserts that I need to be physically fit
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: for my work and so part of me staying fit
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: for my work is going to the gym, I want
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: to claim that as a tax deduction. Is this possible
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: under any circumstances?
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: Absolutely. There we go. Hooray, finally.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so look, as far as someone who's got an
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: elite level of fitness, someone that's emergency services, workers that are, um,
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: at that higher level, you know, and you've got your
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: personal trainers, um, other professional athletes, anyone that's, um, sort
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: of ticks those boxes of, of requiring an elite level of,
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: of fitness, then yes, they, they can claim that, um,
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: for your, um, I mean, you've got your Simpsons picture of, uh,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: of what police officers look like, um, uh, I'm not
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: saying that that's what they all look like, but obviously
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: the general police officer or the, you know, your sort
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: of general worker that doesn't require that high level.
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: Of fitness, it's going to be a no.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: But, yeah, there's certainly options there, ability to claim when
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: you've got that high level of fitness required.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: Like what?
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: What's an elite sort of level of fitness or what
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: sort of roles? Are we talking like a labourer who
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: works in the building industry?
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: No, it is going to be few and far between.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: To be honest, it is, yeah, I wouldn't have many
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: of these that I've had. I had a few professional
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: sort of sports people and they all are able to
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: claim their gym membership.
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: You've also got.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: I had an actual specific rescue worker that, you know,
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: required a higher level. Certainly, you know, like your SAS,
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: your army people that require that higher level as well
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: of fitness.
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, they are few and far between.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: And, you know, out of every thousand tax returns, you
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: might have maybe half a dozen or so. There's not
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: going to be many, James. So it's nothing to really
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: write home about. But yes, it is a possibility.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: All right. What about if I'm a professional dog walker
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: and I'm walking five dogs at a time, five times
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: a day, I need my cardio fitness, Tim?
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: Can I claim gym?
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: You just want me to say no again, don't you?
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: I think everyone knows the answer to that. And I
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: think Tim thinks that the ATH is listening to this.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: We'll move on to the next one. Now, continuing on
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: the home office theme, I work in a home office.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: I just bought a new TV and speakers for my
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: home office.
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: Can I claim that as a tax deduction?
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: Okay, so this would be a capital asset anyway because
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: we spoke before about the $ 300 threshold. But that aside,
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: it depends on whether you're using it for business or not.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: So it would need to be depreciated, number one. which
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: means basically you have to claim it over a number
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: of years. So you can't just claim $ 10, 000 off your
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: tax for that. But, yes, you certainly would need to
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: have a legitimate claim there as far as it's not
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: being used privately, and any private use would have to
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: be apportioned out of that. Now, how you did that,
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: the problem you're going to come up with is substantiation,
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: so trying to prove that you use it for work Certainly,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: if you're in the audio-visual space and you have lots
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: of meetings and it's set up in your home office
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: that you've got specifically set up for work and it's
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: being used 100% for work, then yes, that would be
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: a potential to claim. But, yeah, trying to prove that
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: is often the challenge people have, the substantiation requirements, which
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: the onus is sort of on the taxpayer there to...
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: to be able to prove that.
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: So, yeah.
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: Good.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: All right. Well, before we go through more of my
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: friend told me that they're doing this, can I do this?
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Let's take another short break. Hello and welcome back to
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: today's episode of The Money Puzzle. I'm James Girard, this
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: week's host. And I have Timothy Ricardo, Certified Practicing Accountant
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: from the Central Coast of Sydney.
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: Now, Timothy, the next one's a little bit risque.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: And any listeners with children, maybe just pause this or
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: skip a minute forward.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: So you've been warned.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Now, the question is, if I worked in the adult industry,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: can I claim silicon implants as a tax deduction being
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: tools of trade?
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: Well, James, I.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Would have left the barbecue at this point. So I
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: don't know that I... I'm not keen on these questions.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: Oh, you're not going to dodge this one. I want
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: an answer out of you for this one.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: You just want me to answer no again, which I'm
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: going to say it is a no from me. Certainly cosmetic,
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: medical has been ruled out for a long time and
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: cosmetic sort of, you know, cosmetic medical procedures have been
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: sort of excluded from, you know, being able to be claimed.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Certainly not as a tools of trade either.
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: So I think.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to– I couldn't say that I've had
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: experience with this one, but I wouldn't be jumping to
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: allow that one.
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: All right, moving right along.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: And listeners, you can bring your children back in the room.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Can I claim my children's school fees as a tax
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: deduction as an education expense because I plan to employ
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: my children in the future in my business? No.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, that's another one that people used to distribute actually
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: through their trusts because– a lot of education facilities, they're
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: all charities under education charities. So people used to distribute
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: to this 20 odd years ago. I remember it happening
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: quite a lot, but then they decided that that was
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: an actual benefit to the beneficiary rather than to um
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: the charity itself so yeah this hasn't been um allowed
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: for some time in any sort of uh way shape
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: or form so that's.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Another no james all right feel free to say yes
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: you know we indemnified ourselves we said that this is
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: just general information so no one's going to go and
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: do anything um No one's going to get any implants
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: or anything like that.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: So it's all okay.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Next one is, can I register as a motor vehicle dealer,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: buy luxury cars, not pay the luxury car tax, which
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: I think that doesn't happen when you're a motor vehicle dealer,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: but anyway, you can answer this, drive the car and
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: then sell it for a profit a year or two
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: later because you didn't sell the luxury car tax. So
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: something along the lines of you spend $ 200, 000 on the
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: car and I don't know what the luxury car tax is,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: but let's just say it's like 30,000. So it costs
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: you 170, you drive it for a year, you sell
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: it for 170 or thereabouts and then you've got a
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: free car and you just keep doing that over and
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: over sounds great it.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: Sounds really great um the problem you're going to fall
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: uh into there is fringe benefit tax and that is
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: if you're using the car personally anyway um it's going
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: to be caught up and um fringe benefit tax is
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: something you pay on the full value of the car
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: so if you're talking about your two hundred thousand dollar
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: ferrari aspirations there james um and you're using that car personally,
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: you know, obviously the ATO wants you to pay some
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: tax on that. So what that means is fringe benefit
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: tax applies, um, on the full value.
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: Of the car. And yeah, you just, that would all
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: need to be factored in. Yeah.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: As far as, uh, any scheming here, James, I certainly
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: would not want to support anything there. That's, uh, you know,
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: just to try to fund your, um, your $ 200, 000 Ferrari.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: So I would, as your accountant, I would advise against
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: this as well.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: All right. Last one then.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: On social media platforms, I see all the time, there's
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: ads for self-help, business incubator type things, go out there
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: and make a squillion dollars. We can help you to
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: do it. Come join our program and it's good as done.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Can you claim the cost of those things as a
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: tax deduction in the education area?
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: So education is something that they've actually released a ruling
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: on this just recently, the ATO have, to give a
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: bit more clarity surrounding education claims. There were two things that.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: Sort of limbs of being able to claim education expenses.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: One of them being that it was going to increase
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: your income in your current income earning activity. And the
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: other one is that it's going to improve the skills
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: in your current income earning activity. So there's got to
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: be the connection to what you're doing. And the problem
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: that people usually have with education, self-education, is that it
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: doesn't link up with what they're currently earning their income on.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: So if I'm an accountant and I think that, well,
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: financial planning is pretty easy. And look, most of us
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: do think that, really. So we think we might become
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: financial planners as well, like you, James, because you're someone
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: that we all look up to as a successful individual.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: If I start doing some financial planning courses and want
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: to claim them, my current income earning doesn't relate to that. Now,
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: I would have a hard time trying to link up,
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: you know, that would seem quite related to accounting, but
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: you'd have a hard time linking that up to your
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: income earning. Now, there may be some crossover there and
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: you might get some increase in skills relating to your accounting,
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: but it's a real... They're really cracking down on this
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: one as well. So specifically for your question, I wouldn't
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: say they'd be earning any money from that particular venture,
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: certainly initially. So getting those self-education claims up front is
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: probably not going to occur either.
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: Sure thing.
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm out of questions. Hopefully our listeners learnt a
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: lot from that.
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: If anything, they probably learnt don't invite Timothy to their
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: barbecue and don't ask him any tax questions because he's
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: going to say no to everything.
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: But there were one or two yeses and a few
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: maybes in there. So I think that was somewhat useful.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: I feel like this was orchestrated. This is trying to
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: make me look bad here, James.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: No, it just shows that there's tax laws in place
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: and everything's black and white and it's there.
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: For a reason.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm just going to throw one more curveball question
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: at you before we wrap up for today. I know
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: it's a really big question, but try and pick your
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: brain and get some concise answers here. Now, over the years,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: people constantly ask me for recommendations to accountants, and my
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: observations are that the best accountants, such as Timothy Ricardo here,
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: have lots of clients, but they also– focus somewhat their
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: time on the clients that have structures, so run businesses,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: have family trusts, run self-managed super funds. And I'm sure
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Timothy would love to be able to help absolutely everybody,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: but there's only a certain amount of time that these
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: elite accountants have. And so, they need to focus their
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: time with the right clients. So, my question is, how
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: can an everyday mom and dad with a relatively simple
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: tax situation two incomes, maybe an investment property, maybe a
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: share portfolio, how do they make sure that they're getting
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: the best tax advice and tax service when they do
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: their tax returns every year if they want to use
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: a professional? Because generally the best accountants are busy with
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: the bigger fish, I guess you could say.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, look, that's a really good question.
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: Individuals, yeah, it is a difficult one.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: Because accountants are often looking at those sort of touchpoint required,
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: touchpoints required with a client and how much you're having
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: to spend with each client. But essentially, if you can
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: find an accountant that obviously ticks the boxes as far
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: as their registrations are concerned and they're either CPAs or CAs,
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: they've got the qualification, being able to have that conversation
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: with them either before or after your tax return, feel
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: free to to ask any of your questions. And if
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: you can do it at the same time, rather than
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: the ad hoc little questions throughout the year, it's easier
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: if you can sort of try to build that, I suppose,
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: structure surrounding that annual meeting you have with them to
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: get the use out of that. And certainly it might
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: cost you a little bit more seeing a qualified professional
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: that's willing to give you the time face to face, but, um,
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: but yeah, certainly it, it can, um, pay dividends. So
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: I suppose from that point of view, James, um, try
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: to find someone that you can, you can actually access and, um,
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: and have, um, and, and, you know, sort of draw
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: on their experience and, and also one that's going to
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: provide them updates and, you know, like yourself sending out
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: newsletters and, and making sure that, um, key issues are
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: being addressed so that they don't miss anything.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: And from personal experience, I'd add that you have to
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: actually like your accountant. So whichever accountant you use, you
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: have to feel comfortable to be able to communicate with them,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: email them, pick up the phone and get back to
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: them when they're asking you things as well.
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: Do you agree, Tim?
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely.
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: There we go. Well, that's a wrap for today's episode.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Timothy Ricardo, Certified Practicing Accountant from Sydney's Central Coast. Thank
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: you for your contribution today. It was very informative and
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: we went through lots of different tax and accounting topics.
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: Very good. Thank you for having me.
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: My pleasure.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in to
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: today's episode of The Money Puzzle. The show will return
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: to its regular format next week when James Kirby returns.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: But in the meantime, send us your questions. I'm sure
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: James would love to see a full inbox to dig
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: his teeth into next time. You can tweet us your
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: questions and thoughts. Just use the hashtag TheMoneyPuzzle, all one word,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: or email us at themoneypuzzle at theaustralian.com.au. Until next time,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: I'm James Gerrard.
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: Talk to you soon.
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: Thank you.