Licence lending – protecting your rights in domestic building contracts
Purchasing or building a new home is often said to be the largest financial commitment an individual or a couple will make in their lifetime. People will take on substantial mortgages in order to build their dream homes or investment properties. Therefore, it is extremely important that you ensure the legal goalposts are set from the beginning and understood by all parties, before signing on the dotted line.
Federal Government releases draft reforms to the unfair contract terms regime
The Federal Government has unveiled an exposure draft of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Measures for a later sitting) Bill 2021: Unfair contract term reforms (Exposure Draft) which seeks to amend the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) to improve the unfair contract terms (UCT) regime.
No CGT benefit for small businesses primarily collecting rent
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued Taxation Determination TD 2021/2 that contains the ATO view that companies that carry on a business in a general sense but whose only activity is renting out an investment property will be unable to benefit from the small business capital gains tax (CGT) concessions in relation to that property.
COVID-19: ‘JobKeeper’ support payment
On 30 March 2020 the Federal Government announced further COVID-19 business support in the form of the JobKeeper Payment, which is intended to keep individuals connected with their employer and talks to the ‘hibernation’ of businesses already mentioned by the Prime Minister.
Under the JobKeeper Payment, businesses significantly affected by Coronavirus outbreak will be able to access a $1,500 support payment per employee per fortnight for up to 6 months from the Government to continue paying their employees.
Temporary relief for financially distressed businesses and individuals
On 22 March 2020, the Australian Government, as part of its economic response to the Coronavirus, announced temporary relief measures for financially distressed businesses.
ATO assistance available to those affected by ongoing bushfires
The ATO is offering assistance to those individuals and businesses impacted by the recent and ongoing bushfires that have impacted large parts of Australia since late 2019.
National Wage Increases Handed Down
Today the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission handed down its annual wage review decision.
Untangling the crypto regulatory framework
The closing date of the Australian Government’s consultation process regarding the making of an initial coin offering (ICO) provides us with an opportunity to take a breath and review the current regulatory state of the crypto world, in preparation for the regulations that may be on the horizon.
Regional growth - private company access to equity crowd funding
The long awaited extension of the Corporations Act Crowd-sourced Equity Funding (CSF) regime to private companies is now in place.
Thermo-nator – the rise (and fall) of the machines
Notable global intellects Elon Musk and the late Stephen Hawking both openly cautioned about the risks to humanity posed by AI technologies.
10 legal tips every small business owner should know
Not every small business owner has the time to think through legal issues that could make or break their business. However, there are some important legal tips that every business owner should be aware of to avoid time consuming and expensive issues down the track. To assist the time poor, we have put together 10 legal tips to help small business mitigate business risk and achieve their commercial goals .
Crowd-sourced equity funding: First steps
Equity crowd funding has taken some first, tentative practical steps. The new crowd-sourced funding (CSF) regime that started at the end of October 2017 - designed to reduce costs and red-tape for start-ups and SMEs looking to raise capital from a large number of small investors – is still being tweaked, as proprietary companies were excluded from eligibility. This will be rectified with a bill currently before the Parliament.
Fairness and good business: a year of Unfair Terms
It’s been over a year since the Australian Consumer Law provided that terms that are ‘unfair’ in new or renewed consumer and small business contracts could be deemed void and unenforceable.
Legislation passed to cut corporate tax rate and increase turnover threshold for small business entities
As previously reported here, the Government introduced a Bill into Parliament to increase the aggregated turnover threshold for small business entities seeking to access small business tax concessions to less than $10 million and to reduce the corporate tax rate for small business entities to 27.5% from the 2016/17 income years.
Capital Gains Tax (CGT) small business concessions barred - income from incidental activity of associated entity counted toward determining aggregated annual turnover
The Full Federal Court of Australia denied the application of the CGT small business 50% active asset reduction on the basis that an unusual activity carried on by an associated entity to the taxpayer contributed to the aggregated annual turnover of the taxpayer and associated entity to be more than $2,000,000.
Equity crowdfunding Bill introduced for start-ups and small businesses
The Turnbull Government has introduced a Bill to facilitate the use of crowd-sourced equity funding by Australian small businesses and start-ups.
Small businesses offered long awaited protection from unfair contract terms
From 12 November 2016, small businesses will receive important protection from unfair terms in standard form consumer contracts.
Small Business Restructure Roll-over – aggregated turnover test to be increased to $10 million
The Government has confirmed that the proposed increase of the aggregated turnover threshold for small business entities of $10 million will apply to the Small Business Restructure Roll-over relief provisions available from 1 July 2016.
Award Rates to Increase from 1 July 2016
Each year the Fair Work Commission reviews minimum award pay rates for each classification in an award. The new rates apply from 1 July 2016.
Top 5 legal tips for starting a business
Starting a business needs more than just a great idea. It involves planning, getting your finances in order and of course ticking all the legal boxes. Navigating the legal landscape for a new business can be difficult, so we want to share with you the top five things you need to consider: