Some of the main changes in Microtax 2024 as specified by the ATO are as follows:

Form EI:
• Schedule ID (Income) – new data fields added to Australian Government Benefits section:
— Benefit adjustment reason.
— Benefit adjustment reason description.
• Schedule ID (Income) – new data fields added to Trust Distributions section:
— ABN of distributing trust.
— ACN of distributing trust.
— Name of distributing trust.
— Share of income – Primary production – Non-Concessional MIT Income.
— Share of income – Primary production – Excluded from Non-Concessional MIT Income.
— Share of income – Non-primary production – Non-Concessional MIT Income.
— Share of income – Non-primary production – Excluded from Non-Concessional MIT Income.
— Div 6AA Eligible income.
— Australian franking credits from a New Zealand company.
— National rental affordability scheme tax offset from trusts.
— Exploration credits distributed.
— Share of net small business income.
— Early stage venture capital limited partnership tax offset.
— Early stage investor tax offset.
— Net capital gain.
— Gross capital gain.
— Capital losses applied.
— CGT discount applied.
— CGT small business concessions applied.
— Capital gains – Non-Concessional MIT Income.
— Capital gains – Excluded from Non-Concessional MIT Income.
— Share of credit for foreign resident capital gains withholding amounts.
— Attributed foreign income.
— Other assessable foreign source income.
— Foreign income tax offset.
— s98(3) assessable amount – Non-resident beneficiary additional information.
— s98(4) assessable amount – Non-resident beneficiary additional information.
• P11 Temporary full expensing – section removed:
• P12 Small business boost
— Small business energy incentive added.
— Small business technology investment boost removed.

Form EC:
• Schedule TD (Trust Distributions) – new schedule.
• 7 Reconciliation to taxable income or loss – new data fields:
— Small business energy incentive added.
— Small business technology investment boost removed.
• 13 Losses information – data fields removed:
— All loss carried back fields.
• 24 Digital Games Tax Offset – new data fields:
— Current year refundable digital games tax offset amount being claimed.
— Total current year refundable digital games tax offset already claimed or being claimed by related companies

Form EP:
• Schedule TD (Trust Distributions) – new schedule.
• 52 Small Business Boost – new data fields:
— Small business energy incentive added.
— Small business technology investment boost removed.

Form ET:
• Schedule TD (Trust Distributions) – new schedule.
• Beneficiary distributions – new data fields:
— F1 Gross capital gain – Beneficiary share.
— F2 Capital losses applied – Beneficiary share.
— F3 CGT discounts applied – Beneficiary share.
— F4 CGT small business concessions applied – Beneficiary share.
— • 52 Small Business Boost – new data fields:
— Small business energy incentive added.
— Small business technology investment boost removed.

Form MS:
• Schedule TD (Trust Distributions) – new schedule.

Some of the main changes in Microtax 2023 as specified by the ATO are as follows:

Form EI:
• C1 Credit for interest on early payments – data field removed:
— Amount of interest.
• P12 Small business boost – new data fields:
— Small business skills and training boost.
— Small business technology investment boost.

Form EC:
• 7 Reconciliation to taxable income or loss – new data fields:
— Small business skills and training boost.
— Small business technology investment boost.
• 13 Losses information – new data fields:
— Tax loss 2022-23 carried back to 2018-19.
— Tax loss 2022-23 carried back to 2019-20.
— Tax loss 2022-23 carried back to 2020-21.
— Tax loss 2022-23 carried back to 2021-22.
— Tax rate 2021-22.
— Net exempt income 2021-22.
— Income tax liability 2021-22.
— Aggregated turnover 2021-22 range.
— Aggregated turnover 2021-22 amount.
• Calculation statement – data field removed:
— H1 Credit for interest on early payments – amount of interest.

Form EP:
• 52 Small Business Boost – new data fields:
— Small business skills and training boost.
— Small business technology investment boost.

Form ET:
• Front Cover (part 4) – new data field:
— Do you own shares that are referable to a sub-fund within the same CCIV as you?
• 7 Credit for interest on early payments – data field removed:
— Amount of interest.
• 52 Small Business Boost – new data fields:
— Small business skills and training boost.
— Small business technology investment boost.

Form MS:
• Calculation statement – data field removed:
— H1 Credit for interest on early payments – amount of interest.

Some of the main changes in Microtax 2022 as specified by the ATO are as follows:

Form EI:
• A4 Adjustments – new data fields:
— Working holiday maker home country.

Form EC:
• Loss carry-back amendment schedule – new schedule:
— What is the reason for the change in loss carry back choice?
— Will the change result in another amendment request for years where there is a consequential impact?
— Change in total amount of tax losses carried back from the original disclosure.
— Amount of the difference in total amount of tax losses carried back from the original disclosure.
— Impact Year.
— Change in total tax losses deducted from the original disclosure.
— Amount of the difference.
— Adjusted Tax losses deducted amount.
— Are there any other adjustments to taxable / net income or loss due to reasons other than changing a loss carry back choice?
— Change in other adjustments to taxable / net income or loss due to reasons other than changing a loss carry back choice.
— Net amount of any adjustments to taxable / net income or loss due to reasons other than changing a loss carry back choice.
— Change in taxable / net income or loss from the original disclosure.
— Amount of the difference.
— Adjusted Taxable/net income or loss amount.
— Change in total tax losses carried forward from the original disclosure.
— Amount of the difference.
— Adjusted Tax losses carried forward to later income years.
• 21 R&D tax incentive – new data fields:
— Clawback amounts – additional assessable income.
— Balancing adjustments – catch up deduction.
• 13 Losses Information – new data fields:
— Tax loss 2021-22 carried back to 2018-19.
— Tax loss 2021-22 carried back to 2019-20.
— Tax loss 2021-22 carried back to 2020-21.
— Tax rate 2020-21.
— Net exempt income 2020-21.
— Income tax liability 2020-21.
— Aggregated turnover 2020-21 range.
— Aggregated turnover 2020-21 amount.

We suggest you study the facsimile and tagged facsimile documents in the Microtax Manual to become familiar with these changes.

Microtax 2021 notes

Some of the main changes in Microtax 2021 as specified by the ATO are as follows:

Form EI:
• P11 Temporary Full Expensing – new data fields:
— Are you making a choice to opt out of Temporary Full Expensing for some or all of your eligible assets?
— Number of assets you are opting out for.
— Value of assets you are opting out for.
— Temporary full expensing deductions.
— Number of assets you are claiming for.
• P12 Backing Business Investment opt out – new data fields:
— Are you making a choice to opt out of Backing Business Investment for some or all of your eligible assets?
— Number of assets you are opting out for.
— Value of assets you are opting out for.

Form ET:
• 49 Aggregated Turnover – new data fields:
— Aggregated turnover range.
— Aggregated turnover amount.
• 50 Capital allowances – new data fields:
— Are you making a choice to opt out of Temporary Full Expensing for some or all of your eligible assets?
— Number of assets you are opting out for.
— Value of assets you are opting out for.
— Temporary full expensing deductions.
— Number of assets you are claiming for.
— Are you making a choice to opt out of Backing Business Investment for some or all of your eligible assets?
— Number of assets you are opting out for.
— Value of assets you are opting out for.
— First year accelerated depreciation deductions for assets using Backing Business Investment.
— Subsequent year accelerated depreciation deductions for assets using Backing Business Investment.
— Instant asset write-off deductions for non-small business entities.

Form EP:
• 48 Aggregated Turnover – new data fields:
— Aggregated turnover range.
— Aggregated turnover amount.
• 49 Capital allowances – new data fields:
— Are you making a choice to opt out of Temporary Full Expensing for some or all of your eligible assets?
— Number of assets you are opting out for.
— Value of assets you are opting out for.
— Temporary full expensing deductions.
— Number of assets you are claiming for.
— Are you making a choice to opt out of Backing Business Investment for some or all of your eligible assets?
— Number of assets you are opting out for.
— Value of assets you are opting out for.
— First year accelerated depreciation deductions for assets using Backing Business Investment.
— Subsequent year accelerated depreciation deductions for assets using Backing Business Investment.
— Instant asset write-off deductions for non-small business entities.

Form EC:
• 8 Financial and Other Information – new data fields:
— Opening franking account balance.
— Closing franking account balance.
— Aggregated turnover range.
— Aggregated turnover amount.
• 9 Capital allowances – new data fields:
— Are you making a choice to opt out of Temporary Full Expensing for some or all of your eligible assets?
— Number of assets you are opting out for.
— Value of assets you are opting out for.
— Temporary full expensing deductions.
— Number of assets you are claiming for.
— Are you using the Alternative Income Test?
— Are you making a choice to opt out of Backing Business Investment for some or all of your eligible assets?
— Number of assets you are opting out for.
— Value of assets you are opting out for.
— First year accelerated depreciation deductions for assets using Backing Business Investment.
— Subsequent year accelerated depreciation deductions for assets using Backing Business Investment.
• 13 Losses Information – new data fields:
— Tax loss 2019-20 carried back to 2018-19.
— Tax loss 2020-21 carried back to 2018-19.
— Tax loss 2020-21 carried back to 2019-20.
— Tax rate 2019-20.
— Net exempt income 2018-19.
— Net exempt income 2019-20.
— Income tax liability 2018-19.
— Income tax liability 2019-20.
— Aggregated turnover 2019-20 range.
— Aggregated turnover 2019-20 amount.
— Loss carry back offset.

We suggest you study the facsimile and tagged facsimile documents in the Microtax Manual to become familiar with these changes.

Microtax 2020 notes

Some of the main changes in Microtax 2020 as specified by the ATO are as follows:

Form EI:
• New Income Details Schedule (ID), with the following sections:
— PAYG payments – Australian & exempt foreign employment
— PAYG payments – Foreign employment income
— Employment termination payments (ETP)
— Australian government benefits
— Australian annuities & superannuation income streams (SIS)
— Australian superannuation lump sums (SLS)
— Attributed personal services income (PSI)
— Gross interest
— Dividends
— Employee share schemes (ESS)
— Foreign employment income non-payment summaries
— Foreign entities
— Foreign pensions or annuities
— Other foreign income
— Early stage offsets (non-managed fund)
— Managed fund distributions
— Partnership distributions
— Trust distributions
— Business income statements and payment summaries
— Other income
• New data fields in the Rental Property Schedule (RP):
— Ownership percentage
— Total income amounts, with the client share amounts automatically calculated

Form ET:
• New data fields:
— Item 2G2: “Country by country reporting entity”
— New section 32: “Non-Concessional Managed Investment Trust Income (NCMI)”
— NCMI fields added to section 56 “Statement of Distribution”

Form EP:
• New data fields:
— Item 2G2: “Country by country reporting entity”
— New section 32: “Non-Concessional Managed Investment Trust Income (NCMI)”
— NCMI fields added to section 52 “Statement of Distribution”

Form EC:
• New data fields:
— Item 3G2: “Country by country reporting entity”

We suggest you study the facsimile and tagged facsimile documents in the Microtax Manual to become familiar with these changes.

Enhancements

In addition to the above changes, this release includes the following enhancements:

All forms:
• Fields which receive their data from other parts of the return (including schedules) can’t be edited, and this has long been the case in Microtax. However, we often noticed that people couldn’t tell whether a field was read-only or read-write, leading to confusion. The new Income Details Schedule (ID) in form EI is used to replace a large number of input data fields, so this problem has become even more noticeable in Microtax 2020. Accordingly, we have updated all parts of Microtax to display read-only fields with a light yellow background, making read-only fields immediately obvious.

Form EI:
• The new Income Details Schedule (ID) has so many sections that it can be a little difficult to select the correct one. So we have added the new Schedules QuikLinx, which works like the existing QuikLinx. Both appear on screen automatically when you select form EI from the Main Control Module.
— If you don’t like this behaviour, you can turn it off in the Maintain System Parameters module. Select “Global” and then “General Microtax Parameters” and then set “Disable auto Schedules QuikLinx” to Yes.

Microtax 2019 notes

Some of the main changes in Microtax 2019 as specified by the ATO are as follows:

Form EI:
New data fields:
• Item 24: “Tax withheld – assessable FHSS released amount”
• Items D1 to D15 are now all entered through the new Deductions Schedule (DD).

Form MS:
New data fields:
• Item 7A: “I would like my tax returns made to this account”
• Section F Member information new fields:
— “Proceeds from primary residence disposal”
— “Receipt date”
— “Outstanding limited recourse borrowing arrangement amount”
• Section H: “Crypto-Currency”

Schedule I
New data fields:
• Item 2b: “Are you a small business entity, not a significant global entity and your international related party dealings do not exceed 50% of your current year aggregated turnover?”
• Item 13f: “Cost plus remuneration for R&D type services” (2 fields).
• Item 19a: “Financial arrangement for the purposes of Division 230 that did not give rise to a debt interest for the purposes of Division 974” (9 fields).
• Item 21f: “Exclude tainted interest income from the passive income of a CFC which was an AFI subsidiary” (10 fields).
• Item 22a: “Gross revenue included in the gross turnover of CFCs that have satisfied the active income test.” (2 fields).
• Item 22b: “Gross revenue included in the gross turnover of CFCs that have not satisfied the active income test.” (2 fields).
• Item 23b: “Amounts of notional allowable deduction” (4 fields).
• Item 40d: “Amounts denied under section 160ZZZL of the ITAA 1936” (2 fields).
• Section G: “Hybrid mismatches” (24 fields).

We suggest you study the facsimile and tagged facsimile documents in the Microtax Manual to become familiar with these changes.

Enhancements

In addition to the above changes, this release includes the following enhancements:

All forms:
• We have noticed that not many people seem to know about QuikLinx, which is by far the easiest way to navigate around a tax return. So Microtax now launches QuikLinx automatically when you select a 2019 return from the Main Control Module.
— If you don’t like this behaviour, you can turn it off in the Maintain System Parameters module. Select “Global” and then “General Microtax Parameters” and then set “Disable auto QuikLinx” to Yes.
• “ATO tax return instructions” has been added to the Help menu, as they are no longer available from the ATO in printed or PDF form.

Form EI:
• Prefill download: “&” replaced with “and” for name fields.
• Prefill now also extracts the client address, phone & email address details (if not already defined). This will make it easier for new Microtax users to get up to speed.
• Create SBR file requires entry of a one-time password due to ATO Production Verification Testing (PVT). This will be removed in release 2019.02.

Form ET:
• Trust distribution to beneficiary: DOB is now imported if an individual was selected.

Client database:
• Import of basic client data from Income Tax Client Report added. This will make it easier for new Microtax users to get up to speed.

Maintain system parameters:
• “Update network setup” added to Configure Folders screen. This will make it easier for new Microtax users to configure Microtax for a network server.

General Ledger:
• View audit trail: Record number is now printed.
• Edit Compilation Reports updated to make it easier to use.
• Enter client code: now can’t proceed if client rec not found in client database.

Bugfixes
This release fixes a number of small bugs reported by clients recently:

Form EI:
Dividend prefill data has been tweaked.
PAYGI prepayments and HELP/SSL/TSL/SFSS balances have been added to prefill.

Form AS:
Statement dates for annual reports have been tweaked.
Branch code can now be edited (on the “select statement from statement list” screen).
GST option 2 data was not being written correctly to the SBR file.

Enhancements
This release adds a minor enhancement:

Client database:
Deleting a client record now also deletes the ITR, AS and G/L data. This fixes a problem where deleting a client record and then reusing the client code resulted in the previous client’s tax return data still being present.

Enhancements
This release adds a significant enhancement:

Form AS:
As mentioned previously, the new SBR-only form AS has now replaced the old ELS forms GA, GB, GI and GR (now that the ELS gateway has closed for these forms). This module is now officially released.

Please see the “How to use the new SBR Activity Statement module” document to learn how to use this new module.

Bugfixes
This release fixes a number of small bugs reported by clients recently:

Form EI:
The SLSP schedule printout has been tweaked.
Lump sum E has been added to prefill.
Schedule A edits have been updated so that invalid chars may be more easily identified.

Enhancements
This release adds a significant enhancement:

Form AS:
The new SBR-only form AS has now replaced the old ELS forms GA, GB, GI and GR (now that the ELS gateway has closed for these forms).

Please see the “How to use the new SBR Activity Statement module” document to learn how to use this.

However, we are not quite ready to release it to everyone. We still need a few testers so we can be ATO certified. If you can help, please contact the Microtax Help Desk ASAP. It shouldn’t take much of your time.

Bugfixes
This release fixes a number of small bugs reported by clients recently:

Form EI:
There have been a number of fixes for the new Prefill procedure. In particular, Interest and Dividend prefill amounts are now adjusted for the number of account holders/investors.
Payment summaries can now have a WPN (9 digits) as well as an ABN (11 digits).
The View ITR summary has been updated so that it can be printed.

Enhancements
This release adds a number of significant enhancements:

Form EI:
The Download Prefill Data procedure has been added. Please see the “How to download prefill data in Form EI” document to learn how to use this.

Main Control Module:
The Download Updated Microtax Module procedure has been added to the Utilities menu. This will be an easier method of downloading interim Microtax updates (bugfixes etc) than using Internet Explorer to download from our website.

Bugfixes
This release fixes a number of small bugs reported by clients recently:

Form EI:
In section 8 (Super lump sum payments), the type code was not always stored correctly in the SBR file.
In section 24 (Other income), the value at label V was not being stored correctly in the SBR file.
In Section A1, the Under 18 excepted income code was not being stored correctly in the SBR file.

Bugfixes
This release fixes a number of small bugs reported by clients recently:

Form EC:
The CGT rollover code was sometimes not being written correctly to the SBR file.

Form MS:
Taxable income or loss was sometimes calculated incorrectly.

Enhancements
This release adds a number of small enhancements:

Form EI:
A help button has been added to the item 12 Employee Share Schemes screen.
The tax estimate now specifically mentions SSL & TSL education debt.

Bugfixes
This release fixes a number of small bugs reported by clients recently:

Form EI:
A Microtax user kindly pointed out that we were a year early in changing the car expenses rate from 66 to 68 cents per km in v2018.03, so we have changed it back again!

Bugfixes
This release fixes a number of small bugs reported by clients recently:

Form EI:
ATI was sometimes being calculated incorrectly.
Edit VR.ATO.IITR.000213 fixed when schedule PY exists.
Edit VR.ATO.IITR.000660 added.
Edit VR.ATO.IITR.100043 updated to fix a rounding error.
Car expenses updated from 66c to 68c per km

PLS communications:
The taxpayer’s TFN was being displayed truncated on the validation report.

Bugfixes
This release fixes a number of small bugs reported by clients recently:

Form EC:
Some edits were not showing the tag definition (e.g. V17 for CTR48).

Form MS:
Edit VR.ATO.SMSFAR.436029 fixed.
Edit CMN.ATO.GEN.XBRL03 for SMSFAR396 fixed.
The tagged facsimile document has been updated

Enhancements
This release incorporates the following enhancements:

Form EI:
The “Tax estimate” checkbox has been renamed “NO tax estimate” in Tax Return Facsimile print options. This allows you to suppress printing the tax estimate, which occurs by default.

All returns:
A “Today” button has been added to declarations, to simplify filling them out.

Client database:
Last Resort Recover has been updated to include current year returns as well as prior year returns.

Microtax 2018 notes
Some of the main changes in Microtax 2018 as specified by the ATO are as follows:

Form EI:
New data fields:
o Item 7: “Assessable amount from capped defined benefit income stream”.
o Item D10 “Cost of managing tax affairs” split into 3 fields:
oo “Interest charged by the ATO”
oo “Litigation costs”
oo “Other expenses incurred in managing your tax affairs”
o Item 24 “Other income” new field: “Category 2 (ATO interest)”.
o Item D12: “Did you provide your fund (including a retirement savings account) with a notice of intent to claim a deduction for personal superannuation contributions, and receive an acknowledgement from your fund?”.
o Item T8: “Tax offset carried forward from previous year”.
o Item T9: “Tax offset carried forward from previous year”.

Form EC:
New data fields:
o Item 3: “Base rate entity” (has taken the place of “Small business entity” to apply the reduced tax rate to the company).
o Item 22: “Tax offset carried forward from previous year”.
o Item 23: “Tax offset carried forward from previous year”.

Form ET:
New data fields:
o Item 52: “Non-refundable forward tax offsets” split into 2 fields:
oo “Early stage venture capital limited partnership tax offset”
oo “Early stage investor tax offset”
o Item 55 Distribution Statement:
oo “Early stage venture capital limited partnership tax offset”
oo “Early stage investor tax offset”
o Item 55 Distribution Statement No Beneficiary:
oo “Early stage venture capital limited partnership tax offset”
oo “Early stage venture capital limited partnership tax offset carried forward from previous year”
oo “Early stage investor tax offset”
oo “Early stage investor tax offset carried forward from previous year”

Form MS:
New data fields:
o Item 13 Calculation statement:
oo “Early stage venture capital limited partnership tax offset carried forward from previous year”
oo “Early stage investor tax offset carried forward from previous year ”
o Section F Member information new fields:
oo “Accumulation phase account balance”
oo “Retirement phase account balance – non CDBIS”
oo “Retirement phase account balance – CDBIS”
oo “Accumulation phase value”
oo “Retirement phase value”

Form EF:
New data fields:
o Item 12 Calculation statement:
oo “Early stage venture capital limited partnership tax offset carried forward from previous year”
oo “Early stage investor tax offset carried forward from previous year ”

Schedule I:
New data fields:
o Item 13f: “R&D and overseas intangibles” (3 fields).
o Item 19a: “Hybrid instruments” (3 fields).
o Item 21: “CFCs and CTFs” (11 fields).
o Item 23: “Attribution income of CFC” (15 fields).
o Item 28: “Non resident trusts and foreign hubs” (4 fields).
o Item 29: “Cross border hybrid entities and instruments” (13fields).
o Item 30b: “Thin capitalisation” (3 fields).
o Item 37: “Intangible items” (4 fields).
o Item 40: “Foreign bank” (11 fields).

We suggest you study the facsimile and tagged facsimile documents in the Microtax Manual to become familiar with these changes.