Spring is Nigh!

Despite the cold, wild windy days we are close to the next season of Spring - probably my favourite season. New life, plants in garden start emerging from the soil, flowers begin blooming, birds arrive, bees begin their work to pollinate and make honey.

Since our last newsletter we have welcomed one new Team Members to the Ceebeks family to help us provide an even better service to you.

KARLA ECHIN

Karla is an organised and dependable Executive Assistant to Chris Beks with over 12 years of experience in the banking industry. She thrives on bringing structure, organisation, and efficiency to everyday operations while providing proactive administrative support. With a strong commitment to professionalism and a high regard for confidentiality, she helps leaders stay focused on what matters most. Outside of work, she enjoys spending quality time with family, playing pickleball, reading, journaling, playing with her cats, and appreciating the simple joys of a peaceful, slow-paced life.

One thing that has remained constant in my 36 years in business is change - people, technology and legislation. The latter is probably the one area that business owners struggle to keep up with and our job as advisors is to help guide your understanding and provide solutions.

The dust is far from settling on the Federal Government’s 2026 May Budget. Almost weekly, as we think we have understood all of the areas affected, new problems or unintended consequences emerge. No doubt, the rush to get this terrible policy to legislation has caused so much angst because even the Government doesn’t fully understand what they have created. The restriction of SMSFs being able to use borrowings to purchase residential property was the latest announcement - see article on the bottom of the newsletter for more information. Hopefully, more clarification and tweaking is done before the 30th June 2027 so we will have time to let you know exactly what the impact will be for your circumstances.

So, on behalf of our Team, in advance, we appreciate your patience!

Hopefully, by now, you have your plans for 2026 implemented and are working hard to achieve them. If you are still struggling to get started, please give us a call or check out January's edition of Taking Care of Your Business to see how we do it to get some ideas.

Two-year loss carry-back and permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off introduced

The Government is introducing legislation to reintroduce loss carry-back for companies and make the $20,000 instant asset write-off permanent. 

Schedule 1 to the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 2) Bill 2026 ('the Bill') amends the ITAA 1997 to introduce a two-year loss carry-back for eligible companies with annual global income of less than $1 billion from 1 July 2026. 

Eligible companies will be able to carry back a tax loss and offset it against tax paid up to two years earlier, generating a refundable tax offset.  The measure will only apply to revenue losses and is subject to the company’s franking account balance, ensuring that refunds are appropriately limited to tax previously paid. 

Schedule 2 to the Bill amends the ITAA 1997 and the Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to make the $20,000 instant asset write-off permanent from 1 July 2026. 

The $20,000 threshold will continue to apply on a per asset basis, allowing small businesses to immediately write off multiple assets.  Assets costing $20,000 or more can continue to be placed into the small business simplified depreciation pool and depreciated at 15% in the first income year and 30% each income year thereafter. 

The lock-out rules, which prevent small businesses from re-entering the simplified depreciation regime for five years if they opt out, will remain suspended until 30 June 2027.

ATO highlights common mistakes when reporting crypto

If you are investing in crypto, this will be of interest to you …

As the use of crypto assets becomes more widespread, the ATO is seeing a number of common errors in tax returns, including:

• incomplete records of crypto purchases, sales, swaps, transfers and rewards; u not regularly exporting and backing up transaction data;

• forgetting to record each transaction in Australian dollars;

• not including new tokens received through staking rewards or airdrops as income;

• not reporting disposal events where no cash is received, such as crypto-to-crypto swaps and reinvestments; and

• treating crypto held for investment purposes as a personal use asset.

The ATO is also warning that cybercriminals are targeting crypto investors and encourages accountants to share its Top cyber security tips for individuals with our customers.

ATO warns on home occupancy expense claims

The ATO has identified taxpayers incorrectly claiming rent, mortgage interest and other occupancy expenses as part of their work-from-home expenses.

To claim occupancy expenses, the ATO says that a taxpayer must be able to demonstrate that:

• the area of their home they used for work purposes is a 'place of business';

• if they are an employee, it was necessary for them to work from home because their employer did not provide an alternative 'place of business' to work from; and

• the nature of their income-earning activities requires them to have a 'place of business'.

Factors that may indicate whether an area has the character of a ‘place of business’ include whether the area is:

• clearly identifiable as a 'place of business';

• not readily capable of private or domestic use; q exclusively or almost exclusively used for carrying on a business; and

• used regularly for client or customer visits.

Taxpayers who are eligible to claim occupancy expenses can claim a portion of those expenses based on floor area, the period they worked from home, and their ownership of the property.

Do you need some accountability, extra motivation and guidance in 2027?

If so, reach out, and we can make you part of our new monthly Accountability Group of like-minded business owners who want to succeed and excel. We can also show you how our business coaching program - Chasers Getting Results^TM - works if you really want to take your business to the next level!.

Looking to start a business?
Get a copy of our latest book before you do to fast-track your success.

Or looking to grow your business in these tougher economic times?

Both books are for any aspiring entrepreneur who wants to grow their business and to understand what to look out for and avoid when they start their business, too!

The next Chasers Mastermind for 2026 commences on Friday 9th of October for those business owners who want to build a better business and be held accountable for the critical tasks that they want to implement to move forward and closer to achieving greater success.

Learn all of the essential components that make a successful business really take off! 

Your investment in this program will be $100 plus GST per week. You will be able to focus on specific areas for your business that need attention, collaborate on ideas and strategies in a group learning environment and share what’s working.

If you have not yet left a review for us on our Google Reviews, then now is the chance to do this and get 12 chances of winning a luxury 3-night holiday in Tropical Mackay in North Queensland. That’s right! By simply scanning this QR Code and following the instructions we will enter you in the monthly draw to win.

The winners so far in 2026/27 were:

July's winner was:

If you are not successful in previous months, you will be automatically re-entered for the following month giving you up to 12 possible chances of winning this awesome holiday. As soon as you leave a review our Team will be notified and will enter your name in the draw. - Good luck!

The latest edition of our National Award-Winning Magazine – No. 24 - is now published and available for you to read. It features heaps of educational tips and ideas on how to create highly productive teams by delegating, an inspiring story about our featured Chaser’s new entrepreneurs - Sara & Dale McDonnell from Warrnambool Motorcycles & Gardening Products, and an informative article from our very own CEO and Founder, Chris Beks, explain the new Anti Money Laundering (AML/CTF) requirements for certain business services – ‘designated services’ – that will apply to you from the 1^st July 2026.

Don’t forget to check out our latest podcast episodes on The Chasers Channel. The most recent episode 109 features a discussion about Your Company Work Ute is Not Exempt from Fringe Benefits Tax.

We release a new episode every Sunday, so make sure you follow our podcast to get the latest news, tips and strategies for bringing you closer to achieving the dreams you are chasing.

Key Dates in August 2026

Lodge PAYG withholding payment summary annual report for large withholders (> $1M) or payers without a tax/BAS agent. 

Lodge and pay July 2026 monthly business activity statement (BAS). 

Lodge and pay quarter 4 (2025–26) activity statement if lodging electronically (tax agent concession).

• Lodge and pay quarter 4 (2025–26) Superannuation guarantee charge statement if contributions were not paid on time/full.

• Lodge Taxable payments annual report (TPAR).

Combined global and domestic minimum tax return and GloBE Information Return due for fiscal years ending 28 February 2025.

New restrictions on LRBAs

Editor: A last-minute change to the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026 imposes new restrictions on the use of limited recourse borrowing arrangements ('LRBAs') by SMSFs.

This change caught everyone off guard - SMSFs are no longer able to use lending to purchase residential property, through the use of Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangements (LRBAs)!

LRBAs entered into on or after 10 August 2026 to purchase real property can now only be used to acquire 'business real property'.

These changes do not apply if an SMSF:

• has already entered into an LRBA to finance a real property acquisition before 10 August 2026; or

• maintains or refinances that LRBA on or after 10 August 2026.