Working with toxic partners

Not getting along with someone at work is old news. But having a hostile relationship with your partner or business associate can seriously affect your productivity, confidence and innovation in the office.

Having to work with coworkers who behave badly in the workplace can be difficult, but here are three tips to help survive working with them:

Try to emphathise: Approach your partner using empathy to try and find out why they may be behaving nastily. Perhaps their behaviour is due to circumstances out of their control. Determine any trigger situations or behaviours to make sure you are not contributing to their behaviour.

Record their behaviour: Keep a log of your coworkers misdemeanours, and don’t forget to be specific and include dates and times. Monitoring the environment can result a suitable moment to have this person moved. Until then, keep your head down and stay busy.

Work hard: If your job is one that you definitely want to stay in, then work hard and seize any opportunity to showcase your talents. Your persistence to improve may be rewarded with a promotion away from the partner. Be ready to switch if the opportunity strikes.

Avoid these mindless office habits

The worst part about bad habits picked up at the office is the fact that many employees don’t even realise they are doing them. Work life can often introduce a range of bad habits that can take a serious toll on a person’s health.

But it is never too late to change. Being aware of what these habits are and thinking of ways to avoid them can improve a person’s mental and physical health. Below are some common mindless habits that many employees may have without even realising.

Leaning your face in your hands: Even though it may be a comfortable position, touching your face excessively is an enemy to good skin care and hygiene. Regularly touching your face can make you skin more likely to break out since you are spreading germs or other bacteria from your hands. Always try to sit up straight to avoid the temptation to do this. If that’s too hard, make sure you keep your hands nice and clean by washing them regularly.

Slouching: Bad posture can result in bad health. Having poor posture while staring at some form of technology can strain your upper body, which can lead to neck and shoulder pain. Slouching can also negatively influence your mood. Just like the point above, make a mental note to always try and sit up straight.

Sitting all day: If you haven’t already heard, sitting is considered to be ‘the new smoking’. This isn’t that great for those who work at a desk for eight hours a day. Sedentary lifestyles increase the risk of having diabetes and heart disease, and it can also hurt your back. Try and move around as often as you can in the office. Perhaps go for a short walk every so often, use a standing desk if possible, or even engage in some yoga to undo any damage received from sitting at a desk all day.

Aim for these cash flow goals

It can only take one or two late payments from customers to turn a business’s positive cash flow into a negative one. Maintaining positive cash flow can be a struggle for many businesses, but setting realistic goals for cash flow management can help make a business profitable and generate enough cash to offset monthly expenses. Below are three cash flow goals every small business should be aiming for:

Pay attention to margins: Even though margins vary by industry, there are things an owner can do to ensure theirs is healthy. Controlling the cost of materials, labour, and setting the right price point are three ways of managing a business’s margins.

Have finances in reserve: Business owners should plan to have enough cash to cover at least two to four weeks of business expenses. It is always a good idea to aim for a cushion of 90 days to cover any emergencies like illness, natural disasters or market fluctuations.

Avoid debt: It may be an obvious one, but owners with debt need to try and pay it off as quickly as possible. A good option to do this is lines of credit. A line of credit is different from a loan. It is an amount of money that an owner can borrow when needed, and pay back when it is no longer needed. Owners can use it as a fallback option if there are unexpected cash flow issues.

Claiming tax deductions for your holiday house

Leasing out your holiday house to others can make owning the property more affordable.

The principles that apply to an investment rental property also apply to leased or rented holiday houses. This means owners are entitled to claim expenses for the property based on the proportion of the income year when it was rented or available for rent. Some deductible expenses include:

• Property insurance

• Interest on any funds borrowed to purchase the house

• Repairs and maintenance costs (such as materials, council tip fees, trailer hire)

• An agent’s commission

• The decline in value of depreciating assets

• Capital works

However, if owners use the holiday house during the year, they cannot claim any deductions for the expenses that relate to that private use. This includes use by other family members, relatives or friends. For example, if the house is available to rent for most of the year, but two weeks are unavailable for personal use, then that two weeks must be ignored when calculating deductions.

If owners choose to charge relatives and friends a lower rent rate, the ATO will only allow deductions that are confined to the amount of rent received for that period. However, if the rent received surpasses the allocated rental fees for that period, then the total expense may be claimed.

Owners can also make claims for feasible travel costs if any travel is made to inspect, maintain or repair the holiday house. The provision is that travel must be solely for these purposes, and not combined with simply visiting the property to have a holiday.

Creating a positive work environment

Achieving a positive and motivated workplace culture is the kind of business asset that is surprisingly hard to maintain.

Lazy and unmotivated employees, poor communication and workplace bullying can all contribute to a work environment that no-one wants to be in. This kind of workplace toxicity can have lasting repercussions on a business’s future in growth and profitability.

Although there is no such thing as an instant solution, there are ways managers and owners can create a more positive environment. Below are five steps designed to help identify the causes of workplace negativity and what you can do to create a positive work culture for all.

1. Trust your employees
It is impossible for someone to exhibit innovation if they are held back by policies or committees. Trusting your employees gives them the space required to be innovative and helps create an environment that forgives mistakes.

2. Address passive aggression
Passive aggressive behaviour is detrimental to everyone involved. Make sure you do not allow it in your workplace by enforcing policies that require workers to address issues with others directly, instead of talking about it behind their backs.

3. Get rid of the bullies
Even if they are high performing workers, do not hesitate to dismiss workplace bullies. Keeping them on can often cause more serious, long term issues. Allowing workplace bullying to take place or continue also indicates to employees that the business’s profits are more important than they are.

4. Provide feedback
Avoiding difficult conversations can create a build up of problems over time. It is important for leaders to be seen as leaders by employees, and this means dealing with difficult issues and providing feedback on a regular basis.

Tax deductions misconceptions

Wrongly claiming tax deductions can result in heavy penalties from the tax office. Despite this, many Australian taxpayers continue to attempt claiming invalid tax deductions that are rejected by the tax office. While some are not quite so obvious, below are some common misconceptions about deductions that many taxpayers believe.

Driver’s licence: While claiming deductions for vehicle expenses such as repairs and servicing is allowed, claiming for the cost of a standard driving licence is not.

Vaccinations: Vaccinations against the diseases an employee may be in contact with due to work are not tax deductible

Childcare: Claiming deductions on the expenses paid to have someone care for your children during work hours is not viable, even when this is necessary for a person’s career advancement.

Commuting to work: Although certain circumstances, such as picking up or delivering heavy equipment, can allow a deduction, general travel between home and work does not.

Relocation expenses: The costs associated with changing employment, such as moving house or meeting an employment agreement are not deductible. This is because the expenses are often regarded as being incurred by gaining an assessable income.

The benefits of a binding death nomination

Signing a binding death nomination can help your beneficiaries make the most of tax savings in super.

A binding death nomination compels your super fund’s trustees to direct your super to the chosen dependent beneficiary upon your death. It also means your beneficiaries can receive any assets within the tax-effective structure of super. This is especially relevant for surviving spouses, so they can continue to receive tax-free income streams or superannuation payout upon death.

Those who do not sign a binding death nomination will most likely have their super passed to the beneficiaries at your will’s direction, which can result in assets falling outside the taxation structure of super.

Those who do elect to sign a binding death nomination will need to update it every three years unless they have a non-lapsing nomination. Non-lapsing nominations are available in some newer trust deeds, and can be helpful for looking after dependent children.

Tips to consider before signing a contract

A contract is a formal document between two or more parties that is legally enforceable, so it is important that all parties be aware of what they are signing. All individuals who sign a written contract should also take the time to ensure they understand what is outlined.

Here are some tips to follow when signing a written contract:

Read the entire contract
All parties should read the entire contract- from start to finish. The contract should be consistent with any negotiations that were discussed between parties.

Do not rush
Individuals should not feel pressured to sign a contract on the spot. It is a good idea to take the contract away and read it again, ensuring they fully understand everything listed in the contract.

Negotiate
If a party is unhappy, or does not agree with any clause in the contract, it is important that they negotiate the necessary changes with the parties involved.

Ensure the contract is complete
Never sign an incomplete contract as this could run the risk that other parties will insert a clause in the contract that has not been discussed.

Consider help
Contracts are often complex and written in legal jargon, which can make it difficult to interpret. A professional can assist in explaining the issues of the contract, ensuring that the individual is aware of what they are signing.

Splitting superannuation

When a marriage or de facto relationship breaks down, any property can be divided between the parties. Under the Family Law Act 1975, superannuation is also treated the same way.

Parties must enter a superannuation agreement or obtain a court order to allow the splitting of their superannuation. A spouse may seek a court order when the parties cannot reach an agreement about how to split super.

The trustee is obligated to pay an amount or a percentage of the member’s super to the non-member spouse, so it is essential for the non-member spouse to provide the trustee with advice on payment details. Otherwise, the non-member may be required to pay interest on their half of the super in the fund, or the trustee will transfer the benefits to another fund commissioned by the non-member spouse.

A payment flagging arrangement recognises a member’s fund may be the subject of a super split in the future and puts a flag on their account. Both parties may want to consider this arrangement, as it prevents the trustee from making any payments out of the superannuation interest or transfers to other funds until the flag is lifted.

Employee reimbursements and GST

Business owners registered for GST may be able to claim GST credits for an employee-reimbursed expense. A reimbursement occurs when a business repays an employee for the price (or part of the price) of a purchase they have made.

There are three conditions that an owner must meet in order to claim GST credits:

• the employee’s purchase must be taxable.

• the purchase is related to the employee’s work activities.

• the employee is not entitled to a GST credit for the expense.

To substantiate the claim, the owner must also be able to provide the relevant receipts or tax invoices issued to the employee. However, business owners need to be aware that they may be liable to Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) when items are purchased for personal use or the purchase is part of non-cash employee benefits.

Business owners cannot claim GST credits for employee allowances, non-deductible expenses and reimbursed expenses that contribute to the running of the business that exceed the financial purchases threshold.