Blog
Notes from the practice.
28 articles shown.
- Tax & complianceShaun Ralph
What changed for individuals on 1 July 2026, and what it means at tax time
Two things changed for individuals on 1 July 2026: the marginal rate on the $18,201 to $45,000 band fell from 16% to 15%, worth up to $268 a year, and a $1,000 standard deduction for work-related expenses replaced the $300 no-receipts threshold. Neither touches the 2025-26 return you lodge now.
- Business advisoryShaun Ralph
Payday super has started: the seven business day rule and what missing it costs
Payday super started on 1 July 2026. Super must now be received by the employee's fund within 7 business days of payday, calculated on qualifying earnings rather than ordinary time earnings. What the deadline requires, how the new super guarantee charge is priced, and where it breaks.
- Business advisoryShaun Ralph
30 June 2026: the last year end before payday super
30 June 2026 is the last year end that finishes with a quarterly super payment. The June quarter contribution is due in employees' funds by 28 July 2026, the same month payday super starts. Here are the standard year-end actions, and what the July overlap costs.
- Superannuation & retirementAndy Giobbi
Super contribution caps rise on 1 July 2026: what the timing question turns on
On 1 July 2026 the concessional contributions cap rises to $32,500 and the non-concessional cap to $130,000. What the increase does not do: re-base a bring-forward period already running, or save unused concessional cap from 2020–21, which expires on 30 June. How the mechanics work.
- Tax & complianceShaun Ralph
The 2026–27 Budget: $3.5 billion in business tax relief, and none of it is law yet
The Treasurer handed down the 2026–27 Federal Budget on 12 May 2026 with $3.5 billion of new business tax relief: a permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off, a two-year loss carry back reintroduced for companies, and refundable losses for start-ups. None of it is law yet.
- Tax & complianceShaun Ralph
Division 7A: taking money out of your own company without a deemed dividend
The Division 7A benchmark interest rate is 8.37% for 2025-26. Repay a company loan or document it before your company's lodgment day, or the whole amount is an unfranked dividend. The rules, the repayment maths, and where the UPE question stands.
- Tax & complianceShaun Ralph
FBT year ends 31 March 2026: what you can still change
The FBT year ends on 31 March 2026. The rate is 47%, and a dollar of Type 1 taxable value costs 97.8 cents of tax. What an employer can still change in the final days, where the electric car exemption stands, and when the 2026 return falls due.
- Superannuation & retirementAndy Giobbi
Division 296 is now law: what the tax on large super balances actually taxes
Division 296 received Royal Assent on 13 March 2026 and applies from 1 July 2026. An extra 15% above $3 million and 25% above $10 million, both thresholds indexed. For accumulation and pension interests it taxes realised earnings, not unrealised gains — the change that mattered most.
- Tax & complianceShaun Ralph
The ATO has stopped waiting: managing a business tax debt in 2026
The general interest charge is 10.65 per cent for the January to March 2026 quarter, compounding daily, and since 1 July 2025 none of it is deductible. What that costs a business owing $120,000, when a director penalty notice makes the debt personal, and what the ATO wants before granting a plan.
- Lending & financeAndy Giobbi
The RBA has started raising again: what that does to borrowing capacity
The Reserve Bank raised the cash rate to 3.85 per cent on 3 February 2026, its first increase since 2023. Andy Giobbi works through the arithmetic: how APRA's three point serviceability buffer turns a quarter-point rise into a smaller maximum loan, and what it does to repayments you already have.
- Superannuation & retirementAndy Giobbi
The $3 million super tax proposal, SMSFs and the end of 2025
As at mid-December 2025 the extra tax on superannuation balances above $3 million was not law and no bill was before Parliament. Here is what the October 2025 redesign proposed, what was still unsettled, and the SMSF year-end work that applied regardless.
- Tax & complianceShaun Ralph
Christmas parties, staff gifts and FBT: the exemptions that actually apply
The minor benefits exemption is $300 per person per benefit, GST included, and "less than" is literal. The property benefit exemption carries no cap at all if you hold the function on your own premises. And entertainment that escapes FBT is not deductible. Three ways to run the same party, costed.
- Business advisoryShaun Ralph
Payday super is law: what your payroll has to do before 1 July 2026
Payday super became law on 6 November 2025 and starts on 1 July 2026. Super has to reach the fund within 7 business days of payday, the super guarantee charge is rebuilt and ATO-assessed, and the ATO's clearing house closes. What it does to payroll and cash flow, and what to check now.
- Lending & financeAndy Giobbi
Rates on hold at 3.60 per cent: how fixed, variable and split home loans differ
The cash rate target sits at 3.60 per cent after three reductions during 2025 and a hold on 30 September. How fixed, variable and split home loans differ: break costs and how they are calculated, offset and redraw, revert rates, comparison rates, LVR and LMI.
- Tax & complianceShaun Ralph
Rental property deductions the ATO keeps disallowing
Interest errors alone make up 42% of the $1.2 billion rental tax gap the ATO measures. Shaun Ralph sets out the claims it keeps disallowing: repairs that are really capital, initial repairs, second-hand assets after 2017, redrawn loans, and the data the ATO already holds.
- Tax & complianceShaun Ralph
Tax time 2025: the ATO's three focus areas and the records they demand
The ATO named three focus areas for tax time 2025: work-related expenses, working from home deductions and multiple income sources. The 2024–25 fixed rate is 70 cents an hour and it demands a record of every hour worked. What each method needs, and what a tax agent's deadline really buys you.
- Superannuation & retirementAndy Giobbi
What changed in superannuation on 1 July 2025
The superannuation guarantee reached 12% and the general transfer balance cap rose to $2 million. But a personal transfer balance cap indexes only in proportion to the part of it you have never used. The mechanics, a worked example, and the 2025-26 contribution caps.
- Tax & complianceShaun Ralph
ATO interest is no longer deductible: what a tax debt really costs now
From 1 July 2025, ATO general interest charge and shortfall interest charge are no longer deductible. GIC for the September 2025 quarter is 10.78% a year, compounded daily. On an $80,000 debt that is about $9,100 with nothing coming back. What the change actually costs.
- Superannuation & retirementAndy Giobbi
Super contributions before 30 June 2025: what actually counts, and when
A super contribution counts in the year your fund receives it, not the year you send it. The 2024–25 concessional and non-concessional caps, the carry-forward and bring-forward rules, the notice of intent people forget, and what excess contributions cost.
- Business advisoryShaun Ralph
The 30 June 2025 checklist for a small business
The $20,000 instant asset write-off is law for the year ending 30 June 2025, assented on 27 March. What is still worth doing before the year closes: the installed-ready-for-use test, the 12-month prepayment rule, bad debts, obsolete stock, bonuses, and why super has to reach the fund.
- Tax & complianceShaun Ralph
Trust distribution resolutions: why 30 June is a hard deadline
Miss the 30 June trustee resolution and the tax outcome is decided for you, by the deed's default beneficiary clause or by section 99A at the top marginal rate. What a valid resolution must do, how streaming works, and the steps to take before year end.
- Lending & financeAndy Giobbi
The RBA's second cut: what 3.85% does to your borrowing capacity
The Monetary Policy Board cut the cash rate to 3.85 per cent on 20 May 2025. Because APRA expects lenders to test you at least 3 percentage points above the rate you would pay, a 0.25 point cut lifts borrowing capacity by around 2.3 per cent, less than a HECS debt takes away.
- Tax & complianceShaun Ralph
Plug-in hybrids lost the FBT exemption on 1 April 2025
The 2025 FBT return and payment are due 21 May 2025, or 25 June if a tax agent lodges electronically. Plug-in hybrids stopped qualifying for the electric car FBT exemption on 1 April 2025, and only a binding pre-existing commitment carries it on. The reporting obligation applies either way.
- Tax & complianceShaun Ralph
The 2025–26 Federal Budget: what a small business can actually plan around
The 2025–26 Federal Budget did almost nothing to business tax. The income tax cuts do not start until 1 July 2026, two income years away, and the instant asset write-off was not mentioned at all. Here is what a small business can plan around, and what is still only an announcement.
- Lending & financeAndy Giobbi
The RBA's first cut since 2020: what 25 basis points is worth on a mortgage
On 18 February 2025 the Reserve Bank Board cut the cash rate target to 4.10 per cent, its first reduction since November 2020. What 25 basis points is actually worth in dollars, why lenders do not always pass it on in full, and what it does and does not do to borrowing capacity.
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