The federal budget contained a range of tax measures aimed at incentivising businesses and individuals to spend and invest to kickstart the economy.

Five of those tax measures have now been rolled into a single piece of legislation, which passed both houses of Parliament on Friday.

On this episode of Accountants Daily Insider, The Tax Institute’s senior advocate, Robyn Jacobson, joins host Jotham Lian to go through the finer details of each measure contained in the omnibus tax bill.

Robyn looks at the personal income tax cuts, the temporary loss carry-back, expanded access to small business tax concessions, the turbocharged instant asset write-off, and the R&D tax incentive changes.

The JobKeeper program switches over on 28 September and with it a number of high-level changes that practitioners and their clients will have to wrap their heads around.

On this episode of Accountants Daily Insider, the Institute of Public Accountants general manager of technical policy Tony Greco joins host Jotham Lian to discuss the new decline in actual GST turnover test, the two-tiered payment rate, and other key details.

Tony also runs through some crucial action points for practitioners to work through with their clients over the coming days and weeks.

In this week’s episode of Accountants Daily Insider, Xero’s chief product officer Anna Curzon joins host Jotham Lian to explore the impact of COVID-19 on their accounting and bookkeeping community. Anna also runs through the latest findings of Xero’s small business insights special report and walks through what Xero is doing this year in place of its annual Xerocon.

For many of us, it seems like an eternity since restrictions were first imposed in March. Every aspect of life has been impacted in one way or another, including the way we do business. In this episode of Accountants Daily Insider, Smithink director David Smith joins host Jotham Lian to look at the way the health pandemic has impacted accountants all across the country, while giving a sneak peak into his upcoming session at the Accountants Daily Strategy Week. David shares some key learning points that we should takeaway from the crisis and the changes that have been forced onto many accounting practices, including how the age-old excuse of ‘my clients want it that way’ no longer stands.

In the build up to the Accountants Daily Strategy Week, we shine a spotlight on one of our upcoming speakers. Business Automation Works chief executive Stan Corner joins host Jotham Lian in this week’s episode of Accountants Daily Insider to give a sneak peek into his upcoming session at the Accountants Daily Strategy Week. Stan shares how the idea behind ATOmate was formed, how COVID-19 has changed the way firms view client engagement, and where he sees the profession headed to in the future.

Employing nearly half of all Australians, small businesses are absolutely vital for the nation's economy. Alex Brgudac has been on the ground supporting this sector through the rollercoaster ride that is COVID-19 in his role as the head of partnerships at online lender Prospa.

Alex joins host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic in this episode of Accountants Daily Insider to talk about Prospa's transition to remote working conditions, the sentiment among his SME clients throughout the crisis, and the effectiveness of the government's support schemes thus far.

He also explains how businesses have been pushed to positively adapt, what he expects to happen in the SME sector over the next few months, and shares some words of advice to small businesses that are struggling at the moment.

It's been five months since the government's JobKeeper scheme was rolled out to help support businesses through the financial difficulties brought on by the pandemic, and changes are still being announced.

RSM associate director, Tracey Dunn, joins host Jotham Lian in this episode of Accountants Daily Insider to discuss all the changes and tweaks to the scheme that have been announced so far, and how practitioners can keep their business clients informed in this turbulent time.

Tracey explains the 1 July employment date change, how it applies under the "one in, all in"; principle, the key proposals from the JobKeeper 2.0 announcements, and why the lack of legislative instrument or ATO guidance around the new changes is problematic.

With stage 4 restrictions now imposed in Melbourne, many accounting and bookkeeping practices are now required to close their onsite workplaces and work from home.

In this episode of Accountants Daily Insider, Andrew Van De Beek joins host Jotham Lian to discuss how the new restrictions have impacted his Mount Eliza based firm Illumin8, what the sentiment among his business clients is like at the moment, and how he's keeping his team motivated and connected while working remotely.

Andrew explains how the regulations have changed the way his team engages with their clients, details the initiatives they've put into place to address these issues, and shares some advice for other firms that are looking to embrace technology and digitise their processes.

The ATO has claimed a 12 per cent increase in tax returns lodged in the first two weeks of July compared with the same time last year, but practitioners aren't convinced they are seeing the same spike in their business this tax time. H&R Block director of tax communications Mark Chapman joins host Jotham Lian in this episode of Accountants Daily Insider to discuss the ATO's recent decision to stop breaking down the lodgement split between tax agents and myTax, and what he hopes for the future of myTax to provide a level playing field with agents.

Mark reflects on how tax time 2020 has been so far, the changes he's noticed in his clients' claims, and his words of advice to other practitioners dealing with tax time this year.

With a whole range of legislative changes and so many Australians under financial stress as a result of COVID-19, this year's tax time is sure to bring its own set of challenges for practitioners.

In this week's episode of Accountants Daily Insider, host Jotham Lian is joined by the managing partner at Pitt Martin Accountants & Tax Advisers and this year's Australian Accounting Awards Accounting Consultant of the Year, Teddy Kosasih, to talk about the common issues he's witnessing with regard to tax time 2020.

Teddy explains why many people are lodging their tax early this year, outlines how practitioners can best support struggling business clients, and shares some tips on managing client expectations.