The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has announced that Australian Business Number (ABN) holders or their accountants might be contacted by the tax office during the months of November and December 2021 as it moves to automate its ‘intent to cancel’ program.
ABNs can be selected for the cancellation program if the tax office cannot detect any business activity in their tax return or other lodgements or third-party information.
Therefore, businesses are being urged to report any income earned under their ABN in their tax return, regardless of the amount.
“By keeping their tax obligations up to date, we can see they are actively undertaking a business, therefore their ABN should not be cancelled,” said the ATO in a statement to the media.
The ATO has outlined that if an ABN is cancelled, the business will be required to re-apply to activate it again. If an ABN is no longer needed, then the holder should go online and cancel it.
Businesses are also being urged to ensure all ABN details contain up-to-date information on authorised contacts; the organisation’s physical location; postal address; email address and phone number.
“Updating your ABN details might be the last thing on your mind but it is important to keep your organisation’s contact details up to date, especially as the risk of natural disasters like bushfire and storms increases at this time of year. During times of emergency or natural disaster, your ABN details are used by emergency services and government agencies to help identify businesses in affected areas that might need help or support. If your ABN details are out-of-date you risk missing out on important assistance, updates or opportunities such as grants,” said a statement released by the ATO.
Half of Australian Business Say Its Challenging to Recruit Skilled Professionals
A recent survey has discovered that half of Australian businesses find it more challenging to hire skilled professionals at the present time in compared to before the covid-19 pandemic. This mainly due to a huge competition for talent brought about by the restrictions on migration and huge demand for digital skills.
The recent surveyed which complied answers from 300 hiring managers, revealed that 47 percent believe the pandemic has increased the skills shortage in Australia.
As businesses across Australia continue to prioritise digital transformation and recovery from covid-19, attracting and retaining niche skillsets will be a top priority. At the same time, the reduced flow of foreign talent is placing mounting pressure on the limited domestic skills supply. Increased competition for talent is the reason it’s so difficult to find the right skills, according to 63 percent of business leaders surveyed, while 54 percent said it was due to rising demand for specialist skills and 23 percent an inability to recruit talent from overseas. In an attempt to solve the current problem, 41 percent of businesses are turning to reskilling their existing employees.
Although there might be no shortage of job opportunities in the Australian professional sectors at the present time, there is definitely a shortage of talent. In the meantime, until the flow of foreign talent is reintroduced back into the Australian labour market, employers will continue to be challenged by demand for specialised workers exceeding the supply.
With the huge levels of competition likely to carry on for a while, it is highly advisable for Australian employers to hire new staff based on attitude and potential in comparison to hiring simply off of their experience.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) Job Vacancies Survey, released in August 2021, the level of job vacancies was 46.5 per cent higher than in February 2020, prior to the start of the pandemic.