The one single non-standard tax 'thing' that many people I know do is to salary sacrifice for a new laptop. Quick review of how this works: normally, you are discouraged from buying yourself stuff out of pre-tax income, because otherwise a sensible financial strategy would go something like: pay for everything, declare small remainder to government, be taxed only on small remainder. The way the government puts a stop to this is by charging Fringe Benefits Tax on things bought from pre-tax income. FBT is a huge amount of money, you'll pay an insane amount of tax on fringe benefits: better to buy things from your wages after tax was taken out.

There are a few exceptions or partial exceptions to FBT, and one is laptops, at present, more info here (written from an employer's point of view). Given how many people I know get their employer to let them salary sacrifice for their 'yearly laptop', I am surprised to see less commentary on this aspect of the Federal Budget for 2008/2009:

FBT improves tax fairness by taxing non-cash remuneration. Tax planning arrangements and changes in technology have eroded the fairness and integrity of the FBT system, which will be addressed by:

• ...
• removing the FBT exemption for work-related items used mainly for private purposes such as laptops
• removing the double benefit from employee depreciation deductions on FBT exempt items used mainly for work purposes

Budget Overview 2008–2009 [706K], page 5

What does this mean for you? I am not a tax professional (or financial professional) but my interpretation is:

• if you are buying yourself a new laptop and it won't be used mostly for work, you buy it out of post-tax income from now on (and you don't claim depreciation on it either, you've never been allowed to depreciate private possessions like that anyway); or
• if you are buying yourself a new laptop and it will be used mostly for work, you can either buy it out of pre-tax income, or you can claim depreciation, but not both as you may have done previously.

I assume this applies from July 1 2008 on. My understanding of depreciation is that 'work purposes' in the above is something along the lines of 'assisting in the production of assessable income', but this is certainly getting into regions where you should consult the ATO and tax professionals.

Michael Davies pointed out in email that the changes to laptop purchases and taxation have already taken effect, there is no window of opportunity to buy a new private-use laptop and still salary sacrifice it. Depreciation on existing laptops purchased via salary sacrifice can be claimed for the 2007/2008 tax year, but that's the last time.

The Government will tighten the current fringe benefit tax (FBT) exemption for certain work‑related items (including laptop computers, personal digital assistants and tools of trade) by ensuring the exemption only applies where these items are used primarily for work purposes... The measure will apply to items purchased after 7.30 pm (AEST) on 13 May 2008. The measure reduces the FBT concession and tax expenditure for work‑related items...

...

The Government will also deny employees depreciation deductions for FBT exempt items (that is, items purchased primarily for work purposes) purchased from 7.30 pm (AEST) on 13 May 2008. For items purchased before that time, employees will be denied depreciation deductions for the 2008‑09 and later income years. This measure will ensure that employees are no longer able to gain a double benefit by obtaining an FBT exempt item (such as a laptop computer) from their pre‑tax income, and then claim a deduction for depreciation.

Budget Paper No. 2 > Part 1: Revenue Measures > Treasury

Andrew and I aren't singularly iconic, like Jeff:

And furthermore, I've grown and cut my hair and grown it and cut it again in the last few years, and I cut all of Andrew's off and have kept cutting it off. So these aren't us anymore:

In fact, I never looked much like that (although I wish I had), I just lacked photographs of myself at the time and grabbed what was to hand. In any case, welcome our new hackergotchis:

In the spirit of Peter Hardy's post, my Wii friend codes:

Update October 12 2008: our console and game codes can now be found at codes.txt.