All News

Mostly we’re complaining about bad government behaviour. And we should! And we will continue!

BUT, it makes a pleasant change to report some good news.

Workcover NSW:
As far back as 2005 we had been actively trying to defend self-employed people in NSW from the NSW WorkCover Authority. In 2012 the new government undertook a review. In our submission we stated that the workers compensation scheme is More...

This week, in Business Spectator, ICA Executive Director Ken Phillips wrote about a ‘mystery’ box that arrived in the post for him some years ago. It contained the true financial records of a major trade union. The records differed from the union’s publicly declared accounts. The point of Ken's article is that full transparency and disclosure should be imposed on the big superannuation funds or we could see corruption scandals in superannuation similar to those we are seeing with unions.  More...

Big business is angry that the Abbott government is proposing to make anti-competitive behaviour by them more difficult. New laws would restrict big businesses from abusing their market power. Small Business Minister Bruce Billson has hit back saying big business is talking “utter nonsense”. We agree.

Just recently, Coles had to refund $12m to 200 suppliers due to unconscionable conduct by Coles. And the competition regulator (ACCC) is finally responding to evidence of big business cartels in the construction industry. What’s odd is that unions and Labor seem be lining up with big business on this. More...

Good news: Income splitting
ICA receives queries from self-employed people who have become caught up in the Personal Service Income Tax rules. They are denied tax deductions and prevented from sharing income with their spouses. With such queries we always first ask if they are a partnership. That’s because income-splitting by partnerships is legal and allowed by the ATO. However, some ATO case officers and many accountants don’t know this.  More...

It came as something of a revelation that if you started a new small business, the professional costs of setting it up—that is, lawyers, accountants, marketing advisers and so on—could not immediately be declared as business tax deductions. No wonder people get angry with the tax system. Just when business expenses bleed money from the start up, the government screws the business.

Well, thankfully, this is to change. In a pre-budget announcement from Treasurer Hockey and Small Business Minister Billson, these expenses will be claimable immediately.  It’s about time we saw some common (tax) sense! More...

Just last week the debate over workplace issues revved up again with the release by the Abbott government of its Productivity Commission inquiry into workplace relations. Naturally, the unions and the ALP are salivating at the idea that this will be a re-run of WorkChoices, almost guaranteeing them a win at the next election. ICA will be putting a submission to the Inquiry. More...

ICA's Ken Phillips has returned to the fray over the proposed illegal logging legislation—due to take effect in November—with a series of responses to the Minister responsible, Tasmanian Senator Colbeck. The laws, Ken says, will create criminals out of honest small business timber and timber products importers and are impossible to comply with. Small timber importers will come under a vicious bureaucratic attack that will force them into the clutches of a duopoly of big business interests. Ken's original article is here. His most recent response to the Minister is here. More...

It was pleasing to see the recent announcement from Small Business Minister Bruce Billson that there will be ‘Tougher checks on bureaucrats to help small business’ (see this article from The Australian). Billson said:

“We want to ensure the Commonwealth organises itself to be more responsive and client-focused to small business rather than expecting bureaucratic administrative convenience to trump …”   More...

Working to defend self-employed people can involve many strange twists and turns.

A recent example: new laws to start in November require timber importers to guarantee that any imported timber is legally logged. If they don’t, they face jail as the ultimate sanction. But government reports say that it's impossible to comply.  More...

An ICA member received this letter from the ATO. It’s supposed to be a ‘good news’ letter requiring less BAS reporting (ie; less red tape) by our member. Our member is a professional, experienced editor. He knows a LOT about writing. But he was confused and a little worried that he might have done, or might do, something wrong! He went to his accountant to check (which cost him money of course!)  More...