Financial Planning articles
Should I Buy Into My Company’s Employee Share Schemes?
Employee Share Schemes (ESS) give employees the opportunity to purchase company shares as part of their employment benefits, salary package, promotion bonus, or retirement option. Depending on the terms of the agreement, the company’s financial status, and your career plans signing up for an ESS may be one of the...
What is the Government’s R&D 43.5% Tax offset?
The R&D Tax Incentive Program is part of the Australian government’s drive to push more companies to get involved in research and development efforts by giving them set tax offset rates. The offset for R&D programs used to be 45% for those with group turnover amounting to less than $20...
How do franchises work?
Franchising is one of the favorite avenues, not only of Australians but also of business-minded individuals worldwide, in getting the chance to partly own and run a business. Australia houses numerous franchised businesses, both homegrown and international brands, which is evident enough to show how aware individuals are of the...
ETF and managed funds – Which is better?
Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETF) are both investment vehicles involving indirect access to the stock market.
The main difference between the two is the way they can be accessed. ETFs are traded in the stock market just like a normal individual stock. This means it has its own ticker and...
How to get tax deductions on car expenses
Car expense deductions are one of the most commonly filed claims by individuals according to the Australia Tax Office (ATO).
If you own, hire, or lease a car, you may be eligible for claiming tax deductions. If you borrowed a friend’s vehicle for business purposes, you may still file for car...
Novated lease vs chattel mortgage – which one is for you?
Novated lease and chattel mortgage are two different options individual customers and businesses can look into if they’re planning to acquire a vehicle. Each has their own advantages and payment schemes one should take into consideration.
For businesses, it’s important to understand how each option can affect the company’s balance sheet,...
UK pensioners over 55 years of age can transfer their funds to Australia
The UK gov’t provides an option to transfer their pension funds to another country under the QROPS. This gives UK pensioners more freedom to choose where they want to retire and take their savings with them.
This is also the most suitable option for Australians who worked in the UK and...
Understanding how marginal tax rate works
In general, marginal tax rate refers to the amount of tax that each dollar of income is accounted for. However, to understand how it works, one needs to first, dissect the clause “marginal tax rate”. In many countries, tax operates in a progressive manner, which means the higher the income,...