Collins Hume Blog

From mobile musters to bin bag chic, Collins Hume are recycling with gusto!

When Collins Hume wanted to start a Green Team, they had the very good sense to ask Naomi and David.

Now at the end of Planet Ark's National Recycling Week, one half of Collins Hume's Green Team, Naomi Monk, is asking what more can be done.

"We initiated National Recycling Week by collecting milk bottle and plastic bottle tops for Lids for Kids, as well as bread tags and soft plastics," says Naomi.

"Our team is collecting items at home and at work. I've already taken heaps of soft plastics to be recycled at the supermarket and will do our first drop off of milk bottle tops at the council next week."

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Expats and foreigners targeted again

The Government has resurrected its plan to remove access to the main residence exemption for non-residents – a move that will impact on expats and foreign residents.

Back in the 2017-18 Federal Budget, the Government announced that it would remove the ability for non-resident taxpayers to claim the main residence exemption. The unpopular measures were introduced into Parliament but stymied. An election later, a recomposition of Parliament, and the Government has again introduced the reforms but in a modified form.

The proposed changes would apply from the original Budget announcement date back on 9 May 2017, so could impact on properties that have already been sold. However, a transitional rule would allow CGT events happening up to 30 June 2020 to be dealt with under the existing rules as long as the property was held continuously from before 9 May 2017 until the CGT event. That is, if you held a property from 9 May 2017 up until the sale date, the existing rules might continue to apply.

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Can the tax office take money out of your account? Your right to know

You might have seen the recent spate of media freedom advertisements as part of the Your Right to Know campaign. The prime-time advertising states that the Australian Tax Office (ATO) can take money from your account without you knowing. 

The question is, do you really know what powers the ATO have?

The ATO is one of the most powerful institutions in Australia with very broad and encompassing powers. 

Over the last few years the approach has been to work with taxpayers to ensure that the tax they owe is paid. But this level of understanding only lasts so long and they will take action where taxpayers are unwilling to work with them, repeatedly default on an agreed payment plan, or don't take steps to resolve the situation (these steps include an expectation that you go into debt to clear your tax debt). And, there are also circumstances where the ATO can swoop in where they believe there is a need to secure assets such as bank accounts if there is a risk of disposal or flight risk.

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Is it worth 1 minute to assess your level of business risk?

One minute | Ten easy questions

At Collins Hume, we have developed a Business Risk Survey that is sure to be eye-opening for any business owner. 

It only takes a minute to complete but is of enormous benefit if you have concerns about your business that keep you awake at night.

In designing our Business Risk Survey, we urge business owners to do a pulse check on how you're feeling about how your business is tracking, to see if there are any concerns or opportunities that you're not getting to discuss because you're immersed in running your business day-to-day.

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Woolworths $200m plus remediation

Woolworths is the latest company to facing a fallout from the underpayment of staff. 

In what is believed to be the largest remediation of its kind, Woolworths have stated that they have underpaid 5,700 salaried team members with remediation expected to be in the range of $200m to $300m (before tax).

The discovery was made as part of a 2 year review following the implementation of a new enterprise agreement but could have been occurring since the implementation of the modern award in 2010.

In a statement, Woolworths stated:

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