As the impact of the coronavirus continues to evolve, we, along with many of you, face further uncertainty and inevitably challenging times ahead.

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all of us and we wanted to let you know how we are addressing it for the foreseeable future.

Our top priority is to protect the health and well being of our employees, clients and families.

Another top priority of ours is you, our clients, and your businesses.

Currently we are open and trading as normal. We have increased the cleaning and hygiene practices within our office and are complying with government instructions to help combat the spread of the virus.

We have some staff already working remotely, with measures in place to facilitate the rest of our team to work remotely, should this be best practice in the coming days or weeks.

We kindly ask that you please bear with us as we navigate these times of change.

We are fully committed to continuing to serve our clients, striving to provide solutions and professional services, with minimal disruption, where possible.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: ATO RELIEF

Businesses impacted by the coronavirus should contact the ATO to discuss relief options.

Options include:

• Deferring by up to four months – the payment date of amounts due through the Business Activity Statements (BAS), including: PAYG instalments, income tax assessments, FBT assessments and excise.
• Allowing businesses on a quarterly reporting cycle, to opt into monthly GST reporting, in order to get quicker access to GST refunds they may be entitled to.
• Allowing businesses to vary PAYG instalment amounts to zero for the March 2020 quarter. Those that do so, can also claim a refund for any instalments made for the: September 2019 and December 2019 quarters.
• Remitting any interest and penalties, incurred on or after 23 January 2020, that have been applied to tax liabilities.
• Working with affected businesses to help them pay their existing and ongoing tax liabilities by allowing them to enter into low-interest payment plans.

Please note that all of the above options must be applied for. Please contact the ATO directly on 1800 806 218 or contact our office, for assistance.

Please note: Superannuation Guarantee obligations, remain the same at present, meaning payable as per usual.

FURTHER INFORMATION: GOVERNMENT STIMULUS PACKAGES

We also attach below, some important and helpful information regarding the Government’s stimulus packages and updates that may be useful for your businesses.

As usual, none of this is provided as advice, but merely trying to breakdown some of the information and provide some helpful resources all in the one place.

We hope you find some value out of these documents, and encourage you to reach out and contact us should you have any questions or require further explanation.

Government Stimulus Package: https://www.lutzassoc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-special-update.pdf

Payroll Tax Relief: https://www.lutzassoc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/payroll-tax-relief-QLD-as-at-Tues-24-March-2020.pdf

We thank you for your understanding during these times.

Should you wish to discuss any of this in further detail, please contact our office on 07 5532 4555.

– The Lutz Team.

With technology now at the forefront of almost everything we do, our aim is to utilise it more than ever, to enhance efficiencies and streamline client communication.

We understand that in our role as a professional services firm, we are responsible for extremely sensitive and confidential information. Therefore, we must remain vigilant in keeping this information secure and minimising the risk of exposure to hackers and the ill-intentioned.

We also understand that as a document intensive business, paper production has a significant impact on our environment. By utilising technology, we can dramatically reduce our carbon footprint and conserve natural resources and landfill space.

Will all of this in mind, we are pleased to offer an exciting new service, which will transform the way you sign and return documents to us.

Enter, DocuSign.

What is DocuSign?

DocuSign is a cloud-based, electronic signature service that allows you, our clients, to receive, sign and return documents to us with just a few simple clicks.
No more printing, signing, scanning and emailing back signed documents. And certainly no more visits to roadside post boxes or your local post office.

Is DocuSign Secure and legally binding?

Under Australian law, a written signature is not necessarily required to validate an agreement. Contracts are generally valid if legally competent parties reach an agreement, whether verbally, electronically or written on paper.

DocuSign uses world-class security software to protect the integrity of your electronic signature and all associated computer systems and networks that process your data.

Please click on the below link if you would like to know more about DocuSign’s security measures and legality in Australia.

Security Link: https://www.docusign.com/trust/security/esignature

Legality Link: https://www.docusign.com/how-it-works/legality/global/australia

How does DocuSign work?

You will receive an email asking you to review and sign documents.
By clicking on “Review” it will take you to a secure website to access the documents.

Note: You can sign on almost any device with an internet connection – mobile phone, tablet or computer.

Follow the prompts, adopt a signature and hit finish. Once completed, we will automatically receive a signed copy of the signed document.

Need multiple people to sign the document? The same email will be sent to them for signing. Once signed by all parties, we will receive one completed document, with all signatures. No need to forward the email on to other signatories or email us back once completed.

If you would like a step by step tutorial on how to sign a document using DocuSign, please click on the below link:

Link: https://support.docusign.com/en/articles/How-do-I-sign-a-DocuSign-document-Basic-Signing

We trust this initiative will be a very positive experience for our clients and greatly assist in the timeliness of returning these important documents to us.

Should you have any question or queries about anything you have read here, please don;t hesitate to get in touch with our team on (07) 5532 4555 or email questions@lutzassoc.com.au

Welcome to a new decade!

Like most, we are now well and truly back into the swing of things after a well deserved break over the Christmas period.

And with this, we are pleased to deliver our first newsletter of 2020.

Consisting of all the important updates in the wonderful world of tax, please take a moment to click on the below link and have a read.

If you have any questions or queries about how you or your business might be affected by anything you see here, please reach out to our office for further information.

We look forward to bringing you more updates as the year progresses, and wish you well for another big year ahead.

Click Here: Newsletter Jan 2020

The Lutz Team

We are pleased to deliver the key tax and accounting highlights from this year’s Budget.

Please have a read to see how they might affect you and your business.

Newsletter Budget 2019

What does the 2018 Federal Budget mean for you?

We have summarised the main outcomes from this years Federal Budget (from a tax and accounting point of view) and how they might affect you.

Federal_Budget_2018_Tax_and_Accounting

No surprises that this year’s Federal Budget centred on housing affordability and taxation measures relating to that, given the publicity surrounding these areas leading up to the Budget.

To see those areas which affect you, we bring you the overview, fresh from the Wolters Kluwer Budget Team.

Federal Budget Overview

Here’s a recent case study we were involved in, which highlights the need to regularly review this area of your business, as it affects not only tax, but also commercial considerations.

Click here for the case study

A back-flip on the controversial $500,000 lifetime limit for non-concessional contributions, an idea announced on May 3 but bitterly opposed by parts of the super industry, some wealthier workers and Coalition MPs.

Read More..

Even if it’s a franchised business, it’s still a business and still needs the correct due diligence undertaken if you’re considering becoming a franchisee.

http://tinyurl.com/gsy253k

A good example of how the right distribution channel can scale your business.

http://tinyurl.com/zt72973