2021 was to be the year we returned to a post-COVID normal however the pandemic has fundamentally changed the way many of us operate in our personal and work lives. Here is some of what we can expect in 2022:

Federal Election

The Federal election will be held between March and May 2022. Annoying text messages, robo messages and advertising are on their way!

Federal Budget in March

The timing of the election will bring the Federal Budget forward to March 2022. It’s an election year; expect many of the productivity based tax concessions to be extended.

Lock-in digital gains

McKinsey & Company reports that consumer digital adoption rates accelerated dramatically during the pandemic.

• Many sectors will lock in the digital gains they made. Some, however, will see a decline in digital sales as consumers are no longer forced to shop online – groceries for example.
• To lock in the gains of digitalisation, consumers expect trust, end-to-end digital service (from start to after sales service), and an improved online experience.
• Forced online adoption has changed the consumption habits of an older and wealthier portion of the market. The average age of online users in the McKinsey Global Sentiment Survey increased by around 3 years and spend around 4% more.
• Coming off a lower base, developing nations have experienced a much higher growth in digital adoption than developed nations; evening out global access.

Going green

Business and consumers will be expected to be mindful of their carbon footprint. A wasteful process is likely to diminish consumer appeal.

Global taxation

There have been significant shifts over recent years to ensure that multinational enterprises pay tax in the country where they generate their income. The increase of digitalisation has only exacerbated the issue. While not earning an income, your enterprise operates globally with a workshop located in the North Pole and delivers to clients across the globe.

Representation in a particular country may also be enough to make your operation subject to local tax laws. You appear to have local agents – several thousand Santa representatives – with authority to operate on your behalf in shopping centres across Australia. These agents commit the operation with the promise of toys to millions of children. A local agent acting with authority may expose you to local tax laws. This is an issue that may extend well beyond Australia and requires urgent assessment.

As discussed, there are currently no provisions within Australian tax law to allow the Commissioner the discretion to ignore your tax liabilities as a goodwill gesture.

Please contact us should you need any clarification regarding these issues.

Merry Christmas

If someone asked you what your ideal day is, what would you answer?

This year was a year where many of us have taken stock of what is important, refined our goals, and focussed on closing the gap between our ideal and our reality.

We’ll look forward to working with you again in 2022 and helping you to close that gap!

On behalf of all the team we wish you a safe and happy Christmas.