Brendan Campbell says there are eight key areas that printshop owners should consider before the end of the financial year:

THE small business capital gains tax (CGT) concessions available to small businesses are:

• The 15-year asset exemption
• The 50 per cent active asset reduction
• The retirement exemption
• The roll-over of the gain into a replacement business asset.

The concessions reduce (and occasionally eliminate) the tax payable when 'active' assets (ie assets used in running the business) are sold, as long as certain conditions are met. These concessions should be considered by business owners planning to sell an active asset, where the value of all assets is less than $6m (or turnover of the business is less than $2m per year). Businesses that currently qualify for these concessions, but may not in a few years' time, may find it worth reviewing the options now while the concessions are still available.

Prepayments
A prepayment of 12 months interest (at a personal level) on loans used to purchase passive investments (property, shares or units in unit trusts) may be beneficial. Be careful as not all pre-paid interest is deductible.

Trading stock
Trading stock is not tax deductible so it may be better to dispose of stock and reduce income for the year rather than continuing to carry obsolete or worthless trading stock.

Bad debts
Write off bad debts and record the loss in the current financial year. This will help reduce taxable income and tax payable.

Bonus payments
Consider paying employee bonuses before June 30 2008 in order to bring forward the deduction. Employment contracts with bonus arrangements in place will need to be revised to confirm the bonus can be calculated prior to the year end.

Capital gains
IF you have any capital gains to report in the current year, it may be worth reviewing any other investments. Consider crystallising some non-performing investments as capital losses so capital gains are reduced.

Private loans
ANY private funds withdrawn from the company may be treated as a Division 7A loan. If the funds are not going to be paid back prior to June 30 2008, a loan agreement should have been in place prior to the funds being taken. Without this agreement, the withdrawals may be classed as an unfranked dividend by the ATO. Minimum repayments will need to be made on any prior year Division 7A loans.

Depreciation
Review asset registers to see if there are any old or obsolete items that need to be written off. An immediate deduction can be claimed for the written-down value of the asset.

About the author: Brendan Campbell is a manager with accountants & business and financial advisers HLB Mann Judd Brisbane

End of year super checklist

1 Consolidate super
Make June 30 a personal deadline to get all superannuation funds together. The 2007 annual report from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) has revealed there is $11.9bn in lost superannuation in over six million separate accounts. Visit the ATO’s SuperSeeker website (superseeker.super.ato.gov.au) to check if you have lost super, and whether it can be combined with existing accounts. The site only needs your tax file number, surname, first name and date of birth.

2 Additional contributions
With many changes to both concessional (tax-deductible) and non-concessional (undeducted) contribution limits, review the current year's contributions to ensure they fall within the new framework. Concessional contributions include employer contributions (Superannuation Guarantee contributions and salary sacrifice arrangements) as well as personal contributions claimed as a tax deduction by the self-employed. These contributions are capped (in order to receive concessional tax treatment) at $50,000 per annum. However, for people aged 50 or over between July 1 2007 and June 30 2012 a transitional concessional contributions cap of $100,000 per annum will apply.

All concessional contributions made to all funds are added together and count towards the cap. Therefore it is important to monitor contributions throughout the year and ensure the combined amount doesn’t exceed the appropriate contribution cap.Non-concessional contributions include personal contributions for which an income tax deduction is not claimed. These contributions are limited to $150,000 per year or, for those aged under 65 at the start of the financial year, $450,000 over three years on a 'bring forward' option.

3 Spouse contributions
IT is possible for the spouse of a low income-earner to receive a tax rebate of up to $540 on super contributions, as long as the low income-earning spouse (ie the one receiving the contribution) has assessable income of less than $13,800, including reportable fringe benefits.

4 Government co-contributions
A Government co-contribution of up to $1,500 is available to those who:
• make a non-concessional (after tax) contribution to super of up to $1,000, and
• have a total income (assessable income and reportable fringe benefits less certain business deductions) of less than $58,980 for the tax year, and
• have 10 per cent or more of their total assessable income and reportable fringe benefits attributable to eligible employment, carrying on a business or a combination of both.
Visit www.ato.gov.au for an eligibility calculator.

5 Transition to retirement
Review your Transition to Retirement (TTR) strategy to see if you should combine any amounts contributed to super during the previous year with your current TTR pension. This may allow you to recommence a larger pension from 1 July, freeing up cash-flow and potentially opening the way to make further concessional contributions to super.

6 Tax File Number
MAKE sure your superannuation fund has your tax file number (TFN). If the fund does not have this, it may not be able to accept certain contri-butions, and you may have to pay extra tax on some contributions.
It may also cause problems for those who have insurance through superannuation. If the fund is unable to accept contributions, there is a risk that premium payments may not be met and the cover may be lost.
The ATO will automatically give TFNs to superannuation funds unless they hear otherwise from fund members by mid to late February.

About the author: George Wright is a partner with accountants and business and financial advisers HLB Mann Judd Adelaide