Are you entitled to a GST refund?

If your customers prepay you for your services and are not entitled to a refund if they ultimately don’t take up the service, then a new court case opens the way for a potential GST benefit.

A large number of businesses, particularly those in the services sector, receive prepayments from customers for future services – in some cases these are deposits and in others, part or full payment for the anticipated service. Often the contract terms provide that there is no refund of the prepayment if, ultimately, the customer does not take up the service. If the customer does not ultimately take up the service, what is the GST position on the prepayment?read more.

Buying a business: More than just the sale price

If you thought reaching an agreement on price was difficult, wait until you get to the fine details of buying or selling a business.

So you’ve reached an agreement on price. But, there are differences between the parties on how the sale price should be apportioned across different assets.

A solution that’s sometimes proposed is to simply show the sale price on the contract and let both sides manage their own apportionment but this depends on what assets you are buying. Try and avoid this trap.
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