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Self-employed pension bonus

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DavidM
16 yrs ago

Could anyone direct me to a ruling on exactly what hours a self-employed person can use when preparing a log book? As with any small business a lot of time is spent on non-paying tasks such as banking, GST, business registration, searching for and contacting prospective clients, then offering advice, preparing training material, invoicing and following up results etc....
I have been advised by a very helpful gov't employee (i.e. someone employed to assist us) that only paid hours can be logged, however someone else was told that padding the hours to take into account the above was OK.

What is the truth??

David M

2 comments
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curtda
16 yrs ago

Can I suggest that you log all hours and ensure that you log everything, however we as employed senior5s are small fry. All claimable expenses can be beneficial. Examples such as milage, car service & fuel. % internet use and phone for business..the list goes on. .. I am 67 and self employed (sole trader) and log everything. If you do this, a smat accountant can provide help to provide all benefits that are available. I have not as yet investigated the Govt incentive, but suggest that an good accountant might weigh the benefits of a sole trader arrangement V other benefits through Centrelink and advise accordingly.

Good Luck

David

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DavidM
16 yrs ago

Thanks for that but the problem is not financial, it is to do with the hours worked and what type of work you can log. The advices I have had seem to be that any hours spent running the business (like you, I am a sole trader/partnership) IF it is directly to do with the business the hours can be logged. However my assessor in DVA has said that she will only accept paid hours, and as we all know, that there are a lot of other, unpaid, hours that are put into the business, hours that you would otherwise spend on the golf course!

What I am looking for is a department ruling on the relevance of working hours.



All help gladly accepted

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