This module describes the skills and knowledge required to perform business taxation by small-medium and large scale businesses. Australian Taxation Office (ATO) creates laws, regulations and guide new businesses and existing ventures to perform duties in a prescribed format.
The following module applies to individuals who use specialised knowledge and follow defined procedures to administer and process taxation-related information within the scope of their own responsibility. Work functions in the occupational areas where this unit may be used are subject to regulatory requirements.
A phrase commonly attributed to “Benjamin Franklin” that goes along the lines of “Nothing is certain but death and taxes”. While it may seem irrational to put death and taxes at the same level, this phrase illustrates one of the most important characteristics of the concept of Tax, which is the fact that taxes are compulsory. Individuals and business entities must pay taxes, and if you failed to fulfil the requirements of ATO for whatever reasons, there are serious consequences that can apply such as penalties.
Taxation will be direct where taxes are imposed directly on income or on a property (for example, income tax, stamp duty), and will indirect where taxes are applied through a chain, usually on consumption, as it is with GST. Indirect taxes are “value-added taxes” meaning that they apply to the value that is added to goods and services during the manufacturing or supply chain.
