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Covid-19 Telehealth MBS Items

GPs will be able to access the MBS-funded phone or online consultations for patients in home isolation from Friday 13 March 2020 as part of the Federal Government plan to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

Publication Australian Doctor has advised that the rebate is a Level B attendance.

Access to MBS-funded telehealth has been a key demand from GPs managing patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. The article discusses what the government has promised. Also, the MBS item will be technology-neutral, meaning any patient in home isolation or quarantine will be able to access the MBS-funded services.

The plan also includes funding for the establishment of 100 "pop-up" fever clinics across Australia to provide more localised stations for people to be tested for COVID-19. These clinics are expected to handle up to 75 patients a day. Information on these initiatives are changing everyday. We will keep you posted.

Succession Planning

Why do you need a Succession Plan?

In our experience, few practitioners think about succession and how they will manage the transition to retirement. However, one day you'll inevitably leave your practice, whether you decide to sell up, retire or leave due to health reasons.

How essential is a succession plan?

It's essential that you plan for that day. A succession (or exit) plan outlines who will take over your practice when you leave. Planning is crucial, why? By planning your exit early, you can maximise the value of your business while helping to meet future personal needs. Ideally the process should be at least five years in advance of the expected retirement date. Planning should cover both voluntary and involuntary succession

What is Voluntary Succession?

Voluntary succession is the willing departure of a business owner at a chosen time, usually because the business owner wants to retire or resign.

What is Involuntary Succession?

Involuntary succession is the forced departure of a business owner due to serious injury or illness, death or total permanent disablement, and bankruptcy or legal incapacity.

The Benefits for Involuntary Succession of succession planning enables you to:

Choose when you wish to retire.
Minimise disruptions for your patients.
Maintain continuity of employment for staff.
Reduce the pain of forced retirement.
Avoid conflict with practice partners.
Maximise the value of your practice
Ensure adequate funds for yourself and your family.
Increase the number and quality of potential successors.
Retain the confidence of banks and financiers.
Manage lease and loan liabilities properly.

The outcomes and benefits provide peace of mind around:

being financially independent at your desired retirement age,
being able to pass your patients onto a successor,
mitigating the impact of catastrophes, and
realising maximum value in all scenarios.

Planning means not leaving the future of your practice and wealth to chance; it means planning to ensure security for your family, your practice and yourself.

Start Planning Now

Helping practice's achieve their goals is our passion, and our strength is in our dedicated professional team. Make the time today book an appointment to discuss the benefits with one of our expert health team advisors.

Celebrating Our 20th Anniversary in Business

	Since November 2000, Brentnalls SA has been instrumental in providing Advisory, Taxation and Accounting Services throughout Australia. Brentnalls adopted it's name in recognition of Thomas Brentnall (1840-1937) who was the inaugural President of the institute of Chartered Accountants. Our Partners, Principals, Associate and a team of over 60 dedicated staff would like to say:
Thank you for supporting us in Business for 20 years.	NOTE: Look out for our fact sheets, newsletters, social media (Facebook & LinkedIn) and presentations in which we'll continue to share the wealth of knowledge and expertise we have acquired in our 20 years.

Upcoming Changes to Land Tax in South Australia

The South Australian Government has legislated significant changes to the land tax regime.

The new legislation introduces improved aggregation, grouping and surcharge provisions to remove the benefits which were able to be accessed through complex structures under the previous system.

The specific measures will include:

Introducing a surcharge for land held in trusts where beneficiaries can't be determined or are not disclosed. There will be exceptions for certain trusts including special disability trusts, deceased estates, guardianship trusts and complying superannuation funds.

These measures ensure that all land held by the underlying owners are aggregated for land tax purposes. Where the underlying ownership cannot be determined or is not shown (i.e. for discretionary trusts), the new surcharge will ensure that these entities pay a higher rate of land tax.

New Land Tax Rates for 2020-2021

Accompanying these aggregation changes are significant changes to the Land Tax thresholds:

Threshold	<= $25,0000	$25,001 - $450,000	$450,001 - $755,000	$755,001 - $1,098,000	$1,098,001 - $1,350,000	> $1,530,000
Non-Trust Rates	Nil	Nil	0.5% value over $450,000	$1,525 + 1.25% for value over $755,000	$5,813 + 2% for value over $1,098.000	$10,853 + 2.4% for value over $1,350,000
Trust Surcharge Rates	Nil	$125 + 0.5% value over $25,000	$2,250 + 1.0% for value over $450,000	$5,300 + 1.75% for value over $755,000	$11,303 + 2.40% for value over $1,098,000	$17,351 + 2.4% for value over $1,350,000

The nomination of Single Designated Beneficiary for Discretionary Trusts

A discretionary trust can avoid the surcharge rates if it elects to nominate a specific beneficiary of the Trust. The deadline for nominating beneficiaries of the Trust is 30 June 2021. This exemption only applies to land already held by the Trust on 16 October 2019.

Unit or Fixed Trusts

A unit or fixed trust will have the option of either being assessed on its own at the Trust Surcharge rate or providing Revenue SA with a notice of beneficial interest/unitholding. If you are giving notice of beneficial interest/unitholding, the Trust will be assessed at general rates, and the underlying beneficiaries will also have the land included in their assessment calculations.

Transition Fund

A transition fund has been introduced for the first three years of this new regime to provide relief for individuals and company groups with land tax greater than $2,500.

Exemptions

The exemptions for land tax remain for principal residence and land used for primary production purposes.

What to do next

You may be impacted by these changes where you own property for business or investment purposes, such as your practice premises or residential investment property.

If you believe you may be impacted, it is essential that you understand how the changes apply to you. If you hold property via a Trust, then you should consider whether the nomination process is available to you and whether a nomination will be worthwhile. If seeking to acquire a new property, then careful consideration of the potential land tax should be considered before signing any contract.

Quote

"The only journey is the journey within."
~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Key Takeaway:
The journey within is your personal journey. The journey of your soul, finding out who is within.

Voluntary Patient Enrolment

From 1 July 2020, general practices will be able to enroll patients in a new initiative that is aiming to remunerate general practitioners for delivering flexible access to non face-to-face care which is currently not funded in the MBS Schedule. This will be a $448.5 million investment over three years into general practice.

Flexible access refers to services provided over the phone, via video conference or secure email. All GPs working in an accredited practice can enroll any of their "regular" patients who are over 70 years of age or for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, over 50 years old.

Enrolment will enable the practitioner to claim funding to support the provision of non face-to-face services. The nominated practitioner will claim an item number for enrolling the patient and after that another item number for quarterly payments. These payments are paid in recognition of the provision of flexible services but are not fee-for-service payments (i.e. not payments for specific occasions of service).

We look forward to providing you with further commentary once the full details of the VPE program are published.

Payroll Tax Caution for Healthcare Practices

The recent decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal against the Optical Superstore is a warning for all medical and healthcare practices that have contractual arrangements with their healthcare practitioners.

One of the most common business arrangements used by medical and healthcare practices is that where the Practice (Service entity) collects the fees from the patient, deducts a fee to cover services provided and occupancy costs for use of premises, and then pays the remainder to the practitioner.

In Commissioner of State Revenue v The Optical Superstore Pty Ltd [2019] VSCA 197, it was determined that these payments could be subject to payroll tax. The Victorian Commissioner's view was that the agreement between the optometrists and The Optical Superstore did constitute a 'relevant contract' for work according to the laws around payroll tax. Consequently, payments made to the optometrists should be treated as wages and subject to payroll tax.

Several factors were considered in the Judge's decision on whether the Optical Superstore's setup constituted a contract for work, including a location attendance premium and the fact that products were sold in conjunction with optometry services. Importantly, under the specific arrangement, optometrists were ultimately paid based on hours worked.

The ultimate view was that the optometrists were paid for services provided to the Optical Superstore (and the patient) and therefore the agreements deemed to be relevant contracts for payroll tax purposes.

What does this mean for my Practice?

It may be a good time to review your current contractual arrangements with your healthcare practitioners:

Single Touch Payroll computer with payroll software and pressing pay now.

Do you have written contracts with all practitioners and do they confirm that the practitioner is providing services to patients (not to the practice)?
Do you have a separate bank account which collects all patient fees and then pays out to the relevant practitioner?
Are your tax invoices to patients made out in the practitioners name with the practitioners ABN and provider number?

Caution should be exercised in self assessing that your arrangements fall outside the scope of the payroll tax regime. If you believed your contractual arrangements or business structure need to be reviewed and would like assistance with this, please contact Brentnalls Health.

Mental Health Support for Australians (Affected by the 2019-2020 Bushfires)

Adelaide PHN acknowledges the widespread impact of recent and ongoing bushfires, including the considerable effect on the mental health and well-being of individuals, families, first-responders and communities across the Adelaide region.

You can read more on this via the link here.

Brentnalls Health News
Shali Manolev | Partner

Shali Manolev | Partner is celebrating 20 Years at Brentnalls SA.

"Doesn't time fly! I started my career in February 2000 working as a junior accountant at Hinks & Smith before moving with Craig Farrow and John Crouch when Brentnalls SA was established in November 2000. Over the last 20 years of my career, I have seen many changes in tax policies, worked with multiple clients in many different capacities and grown both professionally and personally.

Thank you to all the partners, staff and clients who have supported me over this journey."

~ Shali Manolev | Partner

Sadly we say goodbye to Stefan Sapio who has been with us since 2011. We would like to thank Stefan for his contribution to the firm and wish him well for the future.

2020 AAPM National Conference 19-23 October 2020, Adelaide

The 2020 AAPM National Conference "Practice Management in Focus". Registration will be opening soon, now is the time to mark it in your diary.

Considered Health is Celebrating its 5th Anniversary in Production

Celebrating 5 Years | Considered Health Newsletter

Meet Vicki Linden

Vicki Linden | Health Division Practice Management Consultant

We are pleased to announce that Vicki Linden will be joining our Brentnalls Health team as a Practice Management Consultant.

Vicki has over 30 years of experience in the health industry having worked for privately owned and run Specialist, GP and Allied Health businesses. She holds a Diploma of Practice Management from UNE Partnerships and a Certificate in Professional Management from The University of Adelaide.

She has been an AAPM member for 10 years and is a Certified Practice Manager. Vicki was proud to be named AAPM SA/NT Practice Manager of the Year in 2016.

Additionally, Vicki is the appointed Course Ambassador for the Certificate and Diploma courses AMA (SA) Skills Training provides for support workers in the practice sector of the health industry. She is the Principal Trainer and online mentor in all levels of practice qualifications and the advisor for the validation of units which are relevant to the private practice workplace.

Vicki enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience with other healthcare professional. Vicki also regularly attends the many networking opportunities that AAPM provides.

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The information provided in this newsletter does not constitute advice. The information is of a general nature only and does not take into account your individual objectives, financial situation or needs. It should not be used, relied upon, or treated as a substitute for specific professional advice. We recommend that you contact Brentnalls SA before making any decision to discuss your particular requirements or circumstances. Brentnalls is not a partnership or a joint venture. Instead, the business of Brentnalls SA is independently owned and operated and it is an independent member of the Brentnalls Affiliation of Accounting Firms. Individual member firms do not accept responsibility or liability for the actions or inactions of any other individual member firm.