allowable expenses

My understanding is that Jeder the organisation can claim any expenses related to the business as per the ATO guidelines here: https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Income-and-deductions/Deductions-you-can-claim/

Individuals claiming expenses from their Jeder bucket need to operate within these guidelines as well, but we need to understand that in the ATO eyes it is an organisational expense not an individual one. For example the organisation can claim the cost of managing tax affairs, but individuals cannot claim this via Jeder as an expense (although you can claim it on your personal tax return) This is fairly basic when we are talking about general expenses, but could get complicated when we are talking about items that would be regarded by the ATO as assets. For example if an individual purchases a piece of equipment, or a car or a building for example, technically the organisation owns this. We also then may run into issues around depreciation etc. Maybe we need to have some guidelines around these kind of expenses.

Hi Kerry, thanks for pulling this together here. How about we get a bit of a document going of all the categories that are clearly allowable expenses and then those that are allowable but need more careful consideration, e.g assets? My thinking is that this needs to be something that is clear to every Collective member and so should possibly be part of the Handbook...what do others think? Lyb

Yes, some structure around the personal budgets and what is "allowable claims/reimbursements" would be great clarity. It may be time to review all the handbooks.

Hi-have created a spreadshhet based on the ACNC expense headers. Have included two columns, one for what an individual can claim for reimbursement from their bucket (ie into their hand) and another for expenses that can be paid out of a individual's bucket. (ie like paying a bill). If you think of any possible secnario that is not on this list post it here for dicussion.https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FHBW7MzuUm0Z90qAe0Wpw8RVwMcsywgVnr3IoaqR6oI/edit?usp=sharing
The main things to keep in mind are the ATO rules that 1) It must be work related 2) you must have evidence of payment 3) no assets over $1000

Thanks for your work on this Kerry. I think this would be a good addition to the guide we spoke of tomorrow. it will also give @sara50 something to refer to.

Pretty sure it was today we spoke @michelledunscombe :laughing:

Lol yes clearly a typo

Thanks for this Kerry- I have made a couple of comments/questions on the gdoc- couldn't do it any other way. @kerry63 Also, is there a spot in the Jeder GSuite this doc is saved?

Have dropped it into the $ Jedi folder

I am concerned that there have been some significant expense claims made within Jeder that have not met the guidelines above. Perhaps we need to include some scenarios on how to spend $. Eg Louisa wants to buy a yacht for $11K (gst inclusive). She looks at her latest bucket report and can see that she has $15K. Can Louisa purchase the yacht from her bucket? No, not directly. Louisa can access the money from her bucket to purchase personal items by drawing wages, which she will be taxed on. She can then purchase the yacht as a personal expense for the gst inclusive price. To further clarify, if Jeder paid for the yacht from her bucket Louisa would be avoiding her tax obligations, not paying the gst component (ie the yacht would cost her $10K) and Jeder would be falsely claiming the yacht as a business expense. But what if Louisa was intending to use the yacht to host Jeder meetings on board? Still no-although she could charge rent to her bucket.
Do we need to have a discussion around how to rectify claims thay have been made to date that have not been in accordance with ATO guidelines?