The Australian Government has now legislated the Small Business and General Business Tax Break. Businesses will now be entitled to an additional upfront tax deduction for qualifying asset purchases if they pass certain requirements. This is on top of the usual capital allowance depreciation (or pooling) amounts claimed.
The thresholds for the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) have changed for the 2009 and future tax years.
You will be charged a surcharge if you are;
- an individual earning more than $70,000 year in Taxable Income; or
- a couple earning more than $140,000 a year in Taxable Income.
As a result of the downturn in financial markets, the Government has announced a 50 per cent reduction in the minimum drawdown requirement for account based pensions for the 2008-09 financial year. This will apply to account-based Allocated Pensions including Transition to Retirement and Term Allocated Pensions.
It has been proposed that from the 2010 financial year onwards the annual superannuation deduction limits would be halved from 2009 levels and then indexed annually.