It is not unusual for the June 30th to pass by too fast and leave you frazzled. Did you even do everything in your power to minimise your taxable income.

There are many tips and (legitimate) tricks to ensure that you reduce your taxable income for the end of the financial year.

Here are a few to help you start thinking about this financial year (June 30th 2015) which is only a couple of weeks away.

1) Invoicing on July 1st rather than at the end of June.
2) Raise Bills on June 30th or Prepaying bills before they are due.
3) Buy tools/small items that you have meant to buy for a while.
4) If you are a Small Business Entity, acquiring an asset for <$20,000 is tax deductible in full. You can enter into a chattel mortgage and still obtain this write off as long as the asset ownership transfers.
5) Write off Bad Debts.
6) Write off Obsolete Stock.
7) Ensure home office expenses are included in your estimations.
8) Go through personal bank accounts to locate any expenses incorrectly bought through your account, not the businesses. Find expenses you forgot to save the receipt for (you can request a copy perhaps from the retailer).
9) Keep a logbook for three months to claim the maximum expenses for any business use of your motor vehicle.
10) Pay employees a bonus based on performance for the year – it saves you money and offers an incentive for employees to work harder next year.
11) Maximise Superannuation expense for any employed partners or directors, or salary sacrificing, to $25,000 or $35,000 depending on age.
12) Split income to dependents or spouse.
13) Use Carried Forward Losses.

Each of these tips has a right and a wrong way to implement them. If you are unsure ask, we know the rules and how it would or wouldn’t help your particular business i.e. if you are making losses you won’t get any immediate advantage from spending more money.

Remember when you work out your expected profits ensure drawings, any private expenses or any loan repayments, etc. are removed from the Profit & Loss otherwise you have an incorrect result.

Tax planning is a legal tax minimisation tool accepted by the ATO: Tax Avoidance is illegal and can get you in lots of trouble.