FACTS Online assists users to manage their financial circumstances. Learn more about:

Your objectives

Financial modelling

Tax saving

Centrelink

• Use the budget facility to calculate your budget for living expenses.
• Calculate your estimated superannuation amount based on your current account balance and your existing contribution strategy.
• Calculate your estimated superannuation amount at your selected retirement age.
• The superannuation optimiser will then indicate what contributions you will need to make until you retire. (FACTS Online application will then project further to your life expectancy while drawing your desired retirement income from an income stream).
• Plan your income and superannuation strategy to increase entitlements to Family Tax Benefit payments.
• Manage your assets and investments enabling you to:
  • Maximise your cashflow.
  • Minimize your Income Tax.
  • Test eligibility for Centrelink benefits.

Change details of income and investments by reallocating amounts to see the effect of the strategy on Centrelink benefits, tax, and cashflow.

Check out negative gearing. Add an investment property or shares with an investment loan/mortgage and see how your tax changes.

• Example 1: If you are employed, enter your current superannuation details and see if the projected figures provide a balance at your selected retirement age large enough to fund 20 years of retirement.
• Example 2: Model the effect of additional salary sacrifice contributions on the projected amount at retirement, and also in the Income Tax Report, check the effect the additional salary sacrifice has on reducing your income tax

FACTS Online enables you to model your tax circumstances using traditional methods of reducing your income tax liability.

Depending on your circumstances, view the effect of the following on your 'Total tax payable' figure.

• Salary sacrifice into superannuation and tax deductible contributions if you are self employed or even contributing into a spouse account for your low income earning spouse.
• Purchasing shares paying franked dividends.
• The purchase of a Funeral bond.
• Negative gearing into income bearing investments.
• Negative gearing involves the borrowing of money to purchase an income bearing investment such as a rental property whereby the interest expense and other claimable outlays such as rates and insurance is greater than the income received from the investment.

These methods enable you to increase your assets, whilst reducing your tax debt. View the cashflow report to see the overall effect on your financial status.

Disability support pension (DSP)

From 1 July 2006 eligibility criteria for Disability Support Pension (DSP) changed so that a person capable of part-time work of 15 hours per week where wages are at or above the relevant minimum wage is no longer qualified for DSP. Recipients qualifying for DSP because they are permanently blind are not subject to the requirement of having a continuing inability to work (CITW), thus are not affected by the changes to the DSP eligibility criteria.

The types of activities that can be taken into account in determining DSP qualification were also broadened to include programmes and activities designed for people with physical, intellectual or psychiatric impairments, rather than only mainstream training.

Grandfather provisions (including qualification against the 30 hour rule) exist for DSP recipients receiving DSP on 10 May 2005 and remaining qualified for payment. People applying for and receiving DSP from 10th May 2005 will be subject to review and assessed for work capacity and may be transferred to Newstart Allowance.

Current DSP recipients who are assessed as having a capacity to work 15 hours per week or more will be required to undertake training programmes or actively seek work. They will no longer be entitled to DSP but a Newstart Allowance.

People qualifying for DSP because they are permanently blind are not subject to the requirement of having a CITW, thus are not affected by the changes to the DSP eligibility criteria.

DSP was formerly known as Invalid Pension until 12 November 1991 when a number of measures were introduced to provide assistance to people with physical, intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.

Liquid asset waiting period (LAWP)

For people who are applying for an allowance (such as Newstart Allowance) or Disability Support Pension a waiting period applies. Liquid assets include cash on hand, bank accounts, term deposits, shares, debentures, insurance bonds, loans to other people, redundancy and leave payments. It does not include Superannuation or ETP's being rolled over.

The formula to calculate the LAWP is:

Liquid assets - Reserve
Divisor

Whereby Reserve = $2,500 for singles with no dependants and $5,000 otherwise
and Divisor = $500 for singles with no dependants and $1,000 otherwise.

Income maintenance period (IMP)

For people who are applying for an allowance (such as Newstart Allowance) or Disability Support Pension an income maintenance period also applies. It equates to the period of leave payments received on termination of employment, and from the 20th September 2006 the number of weeks pay received on bona fide redundancy.

Note:

The LAWP and IMP periods apply concurrently, e.g. if the LAWP was 13 weeks and the IMP was 20 weeks the period applied would be 20 weeks.