What the 2021/2022 Federal Budget means for you

It seems the trend of announcing budget measures in the weeks leading up to budget night continues, with no real surprises coming from Treasurer Frydenberg’s budget speech in parliament last night. The budget focusses on recovery, with continuation of some stimulus measures, infrastructure spending and new initiatives to encourage investment in biotechnology.  Many of the announcements have a delayed start date of 30 June 2022 or later.

We are pleased to provide you with this brief summary of the main impacts f…

Government announces further support for tourism sector, post JobKeeper

Today the government announced a package of measures aimed at assisting the regional tourism sector in its recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The package headlined the half-price airfares to certain regional locations (including Launceston, Devonport and Burnie) for tickets purchased between 1 April and 31 July 2021 for travel up to 30 September 2021.
In addition to the half-price flights, there is specific support for the aviation sector. Measures include underwriting of some domestic flights, direct support to ancillary services and funding for the …

Nine new team members and significant anniversary celebrations

February 2021 was a great month for our team at WLF, with new staff and some significant anniversaries to celebrate.
We were delighted to welcome nine new team members. Shantelle Brown, Sean Cruz and Jake Saunders commenced in the Audit, Assurance and Advisory division after recently graduating from the University of Tasmania. Our Business and Personal Advisory division has grown to include Troy Britton, Gordon Hamilton, Ellia Kelleher, Jacob Quinn, Benjamin Vaszocz and Navoda Ranaweera. 
Gordon, Ellia and Jacob all joined our team through the Undergraduate Cadetship Acc…

Carry-forward Concessional Contributions

A reminder about the ability to make further super contributions and claim a tax deduction for them.
Where superannuation is paid on your behalf and claimed as a tax deduction, either by you or your employer, the maximum annual contribution is capped at $25,000.
From 1 July 2018, individuals who have a total super balance of less than $500,000 can carry forward any unused cap to the next financial year on a rolling five-year period.
For example, your employer contributed $5,000 of superannuation guarantee on your behalf in 2019 and you made a personal contribution of a fur…

Relearning the art of job seeking in a post-COVID world

Forget what you were told about going out and selling yourself.
In a post-COVID world, where opportunities for people of all ages may be reduced, there is an increased need for all of us to help and support one another to understand our purpose, who we are and how we find our next job.
We also need a different approach to how we find and succeed with new work opportunities and make the best contribution we can to our employer and our community.
To truly understand how we can make a real contribution to the success of our future employer’s business we firstly need to unde…

Trust builds the best workplaces

The old master-servant style is being replaced
Each year in Tasmania, there are around forty thousand workplace transitions.  This includes people moving from secondary and tertiary education into employment, people changing jobs and people coming back into the workforce after an absence. 
As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are beginning to see a changed workplace which is calling for a new approach to recruiting staff, built on relationships, trust and empathy.  We are also seeing the primary workplace needs moving towards creativity and innovation.  This poi…

Adapting our strategy saw our business grow through COVID-19

Lily & Dot in Hobart has just celebrated its fifth birthday, having opened its door and its online store in October 2015. The store started as a labour of love for owner Katinka Dineen and has remained true to her original vision.
“Hand-crafted, small-batch, bespoke – all the hipster buzz words we associate with the ‘shop small’ phenomenon – are at the core of Lily & Dot” Katinka explains. “It was never my intent to scale it up in terms of opening a second store in another city, for example.”
“A large part of our business model is our ‘crafterno…

JobMaker Hiring Credit – Registrations Now Open

Employers must lodge intention to participate in the scheme by 6 January 2021 if you want to claim for the period beginning 7 October 2020 and ending 6 January 2021.
To do this you will need the following information:

Headcount at 30 September 2020
Payroll for the 3 months up to and including 6 October 2020

Scheme Overview
The Federal Government implemented a JobMaker Hiring Credit scheme which will subsidise wages for new employees. The scheme enables eligible employers to claim a payment up to $200 per week, for up to 12 months, for each eligible employee from 7 Octobe…

Make way for radical jobs rethink

Pandemic has proven how fast we can change if we have to
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when our lives, livelihoods and future were threatened, we made years of progress in a few months.
We moved off-base and online. We redefined our use of time and space as we became more flexible and agile, with new ways of communicating and working together. We saw ourselves – and each other – in different contexts. We thought and acted in ways that we had previously felt were out of our reach.
Social media, news articles and politicians brought almost forgotten maxims l…

JobKeeper 2.0 – Update 10 December 2020

 
The government has announced changes to the JobKeeper payment that will extend the scheme until 28 March 2021.
These changes are summarised for you below along with some other important information.
 
Extensions
The extension to the scheme will be in two tranches:

October to December 2020
January to March 2021

What will change

Turnover tests
The amount of the payment
Payments to part-time workers
 Employees employed on or before 1 July 2020 will now be eligible

What won’t change

Other employee eligibility criteria
Notification requirements
Business participant …