Welcome back to our Weekly Digest. We hope you and your family are safe and doing well. Please read on for this week’s updates and the great news about launching our brand new App TODAY.

RBA Cuts Interest Rates to New Record Low

Reserve Bank of Australia has cut the cash rate by 15 basis points in November, taking it to a new record low of 0.10%.

If you want us to do a financial health check on your home loans, please get in touch with us. You could be very surprised about the outcome and reduction of your interest rates and your monthly payments. When was the last time you checked your home loan rates and package?

Proposed Superannuation Reform Measures

The Government has announced that it will spend $159.6 million over the next four years to implement a number of reforms to the superannuation system that will save fund members $18 billion in fees and other costs between now and 2030. The key elements of these reforms include:

• From 1 July 2021, when a person changes jobs, their super account will be ‘stapled’ automatically to them. At the time of starting a new job, and unless a member decides otherwise, their employer will pay superannuation contributions into their existing ‘stapled’ fund.
• By 1 July 2021, the Government will develop a new interactive online ‘YourSuper’ comparison tool, which will be administered by the ATO, to allow people to research and select a MySuper fund to manage their super savings.
• MySuper products and other trustee-directed superannuation products will be subject to an annual objective performance test, based on net investment returns. A fund determined to be underperforming will be required to notify its members and provide them with information and tools to switch to a better performing fund

The government has not yet announced any change to the already legislated SG increases, which are due to see the SG rate increase from the current 9.5% to 10% from 1 July 2021, with further gradual increases to 12% by 2025.

Australians to Receive Tax Cuts

The Government approved $17.8 billion in personal tax cuts, quickly pushing through measures announced recently.

More than 11 million Australians and 1 million businesses will begin receiving tax relief within weeks.

Under the new tax package, people earning $48,000 to $90,000 will gain an extra $1,080 in 2020-21 from a one-off extension of the low and middle-income tax offset. Meanwhile, those earning more than $120,000 will have a permanent cut of $2,430 in 2020-21 and beyond.

If you need help with your taxes, get in touch with us so we can sort it out for you.

Exciting News – Launching our new App TODAY.

It is with a great pleasure to inform you we are launching our brand new and secure App today.  It is now live and ready for you to download it from App store and Google Play.

The current version of our App is the result of many months of hard work including research, planning and exchanging hundreds of emails and making many phone calls with the company that built the App for us. It will be regularly supervised, maintained and updated by the same company which is an Australian company based in Melbourne. 

I sincerely believe that we should use latest technology in our day to day business operation in order to make things easier and better for our valued clients so they can focus on their work and more importantly their life. That is why we are constantly improving our communication and interaction with them. Last year, we introduced our portal which most of our clients are using it now and are very impressed with it. Early this year, we started to send out weekly newsletter to people on our database which is read by many people. Now,  it is the time for us to take the next step to introduce our new App to make things even better and easier for our valued clients and even those people who are not our clients.

Some of the features of the App are:

• Digitally sign your documents. No more printing, signing, scanning, and emailing. So easy.
• Access your documents anytime, anywhere. So convenient.
• Be alert and informed about your due dates and important news and updates.
• Update your details on our system anytime. No need to call us for this purpose.
• Make appointments with us anytime. No need to call us anymore.
• Pay your accounts and even refer your friends and loved ones to us anytime.
• Referring your friends and loved ones to us. It will be very much appreciated.
• Check how much Stamp Duty you should pay on a property purchase in any state in Australia.
• More features are also available in one beautiful, secure, and easy to use App.

Instruction to download, register and subscribe

1. Download “Countax” App from App Store or Google Play;
2. Click on “i” symbol at the top right-hand side of the screen to register as a user;
3. Enable “Push Notifications” and subscribe for one or more categories;

Please note to receive our notifications and updates, you need to register yourself when downloading the App.

A separate email will be sent out to all clients on our database today informing them about this great tool which we are proudly launching today.

Download our App TODAY to enjoy great features.

It will be much appreciated if you could please send us a quick email to let us know what you think about our App. Perhaps you would like us to add a feature to it. You could do this by using “Email us” feature on the home page of the App once you have downloaded and registered it. 

Enjoy it!

Please feel free to contact us if you have problem downloading and registering the App.

Have a great weekend. BE HAPPY.