All News

Last week, we reported the release by the ATO of threats to treat people who’ve accessed JobKeeper (and other programs) of being tax fraudsters. The problem, we say, is the ability of the ATO’s auditors to apply their ‘view’ as to fraud, which then becomes ‘fact’ at law, subject to prosecution. And the only effective appeal is to the ATO itself!!  More...

We can’t believe that, for all the great work the ATO has done with implementing the Covid-19 support packages, it's decided to blow up that good work.

Last week (23 June) the ATO released a statement ‘ATO zeroes in on COVID-19 fraud’. The ATO has declared that it reckons lots of Australians are committing fraud in applying for Covid-19 support (JobKeeper, Cash Flow Boost, early release of super, etc.) But look at what they are targeting. More...

The anti-Trump forces in the USA have just suffered a surprise defeat in a Californian bye-election that has likely implications for the November US Presidential election.

The Democrats suffered a massive backlash against them because of vicious anti-small business laws that have crushed the self-employed small business sector in California. More...

Ouch! More than a quarter of arts workers have lost their jobs during the Coronavirus lockdown. And with so much of arts activity dependent on crowding together, stopping further arts job losses seems complex. Health officials in government are understandably scared of the mosh pit and the possible spread of disease, for example. More...

This is to give you an update on the support package available for self-employed, small business people, particularly if you are a sole trader.

On Monday we released this summary which has generated very high Internet traffic.  More...

As the enormity of the Coronavirus contagion sinks in, a rapid adjustment to what’s needed to survive is taking hold.

First is everyone’s health. We are in the hands of the health professionals and simply will do as they advise.

Second is to do the best we can to look after our collective and individual financial well-being. None of us will avoid financial pain, but some will feel (and are feeling) the hurt more than others. The more we pull together the stronger we will all be.  More...

Ah … we really can’t help ourselves. We’ve stuck our nose into the UK small business tax debate. We’ve made a submission to a House of Lords inquiry into what’s called ‘off payroll working rules’. Here’s a media commentary.  More...

We started our campaign against ‘reverse factoring’ in October last year. That’s the ‘game’ that large businesses play where they delay paying their small business suppliers. Then they say ‘oh we know a friendly financier who will lend you the money we’re not paying you!’ What a scam!

In November last year we called for reverse factoring to be stamped out. Here’s my YouTube comment from Parliament House.  More...

We’ve been pretty quiet during January on issuing news alerts. That’s because we’ve been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes preparation for 2020. This year we’re making a big push for key reform issues for self-employed small business people. The timing is right because there is heightened political interest in small business issues.

Our 2020 campaign agenda has three key targets, all to do with small business people receiving a fair deal: More...

There has been a major development in the last days of Federal Parliament for this year. For the first time a parliamentarian has made a clear call for reform of the Australian Taxation Office.

Liberal elder statesman Senator Eric Abetz is a former senior minister and government leader in the Senate. Last Wednesday (4 December) he delivered a punchy speech in which he demonstrated why the ATO needs to be reformed. He also outlined a model for how that should be done. More...