FMA Partners May 2021 Update

Congratulations Emily Hayward

A big congratulations to our client manager, Emily Hayward (nee Smith) on her wedding which took place in the Hunter Valley. We wish Emily and Ben a lifetime of happiness!

Welcome to the team Daniel

We are excited to introduce Daniel Ngo who will be joining the FMA team as a manager next week. Daniel brings over 15 years of experience with the last 13 years spent in a mid tier firm in the city. Outside of the office Daniel enjoys creating melodies on the piano, capturing the perfect photo for Instagram and perfecting his crane kick at martial arts.

Marina Kirpichnikov
Administration Assistant

Marina joined FMA Partners in March 2021 as administration assistant. She is the friendly voice on the phones and the friendly face greeting you in the office. Marina works closely with the Partners and Managers to ensure your receive the important ATO correspondence. Outside of the office you'll find Marina enjoying a walk along the beaches of Cronulla or sipping a latte in one of her local cafes.

Isabella Bullivant

Office Administrator

Well known by most of our clients, Bella has been with FMA Partners since 2017. Bella provides administrative support to our professional staff and oversees the admin team, assisting clients with appointments, quotes, onboarding and various other client matters. Outside of work Bella is currently studying law through the University of New England.

Due to the overwhelming success of our May50k fundraising challenge last year, FMA Partners has decided to support MS Research Australia once again. Last year with the support of our clients and community we raised over $7,500 to go towards research into multiple sclerosis and were in the top 20 corporate sponsors.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system. It is a lifelong disease for which a cure is yet to be found. Over 2.3 million people live with MS worldwide, and there are over 25,600 people living with MS in Australia.

For the month of May each member of the FMA Partners Team has committed to walking or running 50kms, with the team goal of raising $10,000. If you would like to join FMA in supporting this cause you can click below to donate or view our teams progress.

The rebate can only be used for eligible fees and charges due and paid from 1 March 2021.

For further information including what you need and how to apply, click here.

The Government’s SME Recovery Loan Scheme is designed to provide continued assistance to businesses that received JobKeeper and were also located in flood-affected areas.

Participating lenders are offering guaranteed loans on the following terms under the SME Recovery Loan Scheme:

The Government guarantee will be 80% of the loan amount.
Lenders are allowed to offer borrowers a repayment holiday of up to 24 months.
Loans can be used for a broad range of business purposes, including to support investment. Loans may be used to refinance any pre-existing debt of an eligible borrower, including those from the SME Guarantee Scheme.
Borrowers can access up to $5 million in total, in addition to the Phase 1 and Phase 2 loan limits.
Loans are for terms of up to 10 years, with an optional repayment holiday period.
Loans can be either unsecured or secured (excluding residential property).
The interest rate on loans will be determined by lenders, but will be capped at around 7.5 per cent, with some flexibility for interest rates on variable rate loans to increase if market interest rates rise over time.

The Scheme is only open to recipients of the JobKeeper payment between 4 January 2021 and 28 March 2021 and businesses that are located or operating in eligible Local Government Areas (LGAs) impacted by the floods in March 2021.

For further information click here or contact your business banker.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has been concerned for some time about how the profits of professional practices such as lawyers, architects, medical practices and engineers etc. are being taxed.

New draft guidance (PCG 2021/D2) released in March from the ATO takes a strong stance on structures designed to divert income so the professional ends up receiving very little income directly for their work, reducing their taxable income. The ATO are on the lookout for schemes designed to ensure that the professional is not appropriately rewarded for the services they provide to the business, or that they receive a reward which is substantially less than the value of those services.

Set to apply from 1 July 2021, the draft guidance sets out a series of tests to create a risk score. This risk score is then used to classify the practitioner as falling within a Green, Amber or Red risk zone and determines if the ATO should take a closer look at you and your firm. Those in the green zone are at low risk of the ATO directing its compliance efforts to you. Those in the red zone, however, can expect a review to be initiated as a matter of priority with cases likely to proceed directly to audit.

Some arrangements that were previously considered low risk may now fall into a higher risk zone.

For professional services firms, it will be important to assess the risk level and this needs to be done for each principal practitioner separately. Those in the amber or red zone who want to be classified as low risk need to start thinking about what needs to change to move into the lower risk zone.

As always, the FMA team are across the detail and ready to answer any questions you may have on this.

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FMA Team Updates

Meet Our Admin Team

NSW Small Business Rebate

SME Recovery Loan Scheme for Businesses in Areas Impacted by Floods

Professional Services Profits Under Fire