ronburgundy

Guys there is SO much misinformation going around... For example a. ABN doesn't even automatically entitle you to claim GST. Seriously get an accountant and don't waste time asking here ( with all due respect to these blokes of course!) Resident beancounter

Could be... I rarely get to check this thread at home and can't see the videos at work! Found this on YouTube had never heard of it hut now got the album... Just trying to keep th thread alive

Pretty sure they don't need to give you a warning - it is in the road rules that we all read when we got our licenses of course But yes if he has put the wrong time you might be able to get off on a technicality

If only FPV built a time machine...!

Well it was announced as part of the Budget... has to get through Parliament yet of course. <Insert reminder about minority government here> I will now light myself on fire.

If you have a high business use it makes no difference - they WANT you to keep a logbook. If you're already doing a logbook you are not impacted by these rules even if you do salary sacrifice.

Pfft... soy??!!

There you go.. and who amongst us hasn't woken after a big night to find some mysterious damage to their phone...

I've found that those that have cracked screens pretty much crack under circumstances that dare I say it ANY phone would crack. A phone at the end of the day is a fragile and high-tech piece of machinery. News flash: If you drop it, it will break! In all my years of Nokias I've never had a cracked screen; is that because they are more durable than an iPhone or because I am careful with my phones?! re iTunes of course!

I have had nothing but Nokias for the last 12 years until now... they used to be the benchmark but now they are rubbish. I had two mates that bought the N8 and both said to me...

Uhh then maybe that says more about the people you hang out with/see with iPhones than the phone itself... Just sayin...

Optus now has iPhone 4 FREE on $59 plan - I'm part of the Jobs Flock! I have to say, I am loving it. Especially the TAB Sportsbet app, so I can now check the odds while I'm sitting on the toilet. Uhh you know, hypothetically of course.

We run a self assessment tax system which means they don't find out unless they audit you. But then the onus is on you to prove it. If you say you went to a client for example they ask your employer to provide your timesheet records to prove you were at the client that day. And they use Google Maps to work out the possible distances between your office and the client to see if your claimed distance is legit. We aren't dealing with backyard boys :(

This is a dead set joke - and I'm not just saying that cos my car is packaged and I do over 25,000 kays a year! (And again, I'm a chartered accountant right in the midst of FBT season, so I actually do have an educated opinion on this) The OVERWHELMING majority of cars in this country do less than 25,000 kays. For those that do 15,000 - 25,000, this changes nothing. 20% (under the Statutory Method) is the current rate for that bracket. For those doing less than 15,000 klms, the rate is 26%. This means those people would be BETTER off. I'm no expert in demographics and population trends, but if I had to guess I would imagine the people in that category probably live near the city (or at least, near where they work) and thus probably aren't using their cars a lot to begin with. Suddenly it is 6% of the cost of the car, PER YEAR, cheaper for these people to own a car? So for an 'average' $30k car they will get $1800 in tax relief. They talk to their accountant and they say you know what, maybe I will buy a car and start polluting a bit more after all! Compare this to the person who is probably doing 20,000 kays a year and squeezes out a few extra to get over 25,000: Although I'm sure the government would have you believe otherwise, I refuse to accept there are MORE of these people than there are those that overall do less than 15,000 kms. And yet these are the people we're penalising? Make no mistake, this is the death of salary packaging for anyone earning less than $80k a year (ie Joe Average). Let me illustrate: I'm paying tax at the 37% rate at the moment. My car cost around $30k to buy, and by packaging I've saved probably $4k a year when it's all said and done. Now I have to pay 9% of $30k extra - $2700. If I was on the 30% bracket, that $4k saving is closer to $3200. Take off the extra $2700 in FBT and I'm a measly $500 a year better off. Factor in the having to keep receipts and get reimbursed for my running costs on a monthly basis, is it really worth $500 a year?! Maybe this measure is a Carbon Tax in disguise...

iPhone works fine with the Volkswagen BT kit But yes that was one of the things I used to give my fanboi mates crap about - Apple's insistance on defying BT standard and coming up with their own Of course, their arrogance is justified as all the manufacturers have seemingly assimilated!

All our partners (as in, the bosses, not our wives!) at work use them and Exchange works perfectly. It's the best thing about it in my eyes so far too

Um how do you try them all exactly? Other than either shelling out $1k for a phone, or getting one on a 2 year contract... (I've been thinking there needs to be a shop that lets you test drive phones! If there is one please let me know)

I've only ever used Nokias and am using a borrowed iPhone 3GS at the moment... I LOVE the email/calendar/Outlook synchronisation. The Nokia N97 had an email app that was just rubbish in comparison. I now feel SO much more connected to the office when I'm not sitting at my desk. I think I've outgrown the whole custom ringtone thing - to the point where, when a guy in the office who is 25 I think has his phone ring and it's some crappy Aussie hip hop song or something, I think to myself "surely you're old enough now to be over that sort of thing??!!". FYI I'm not even 30 yet (2 weeks away) - funny how age changes us! The only downside to that is at the moment there are 2 iPhones in the house (me and the wife) so we have to make sure we have a different ring tone - and we're both partial to the good old fashion 'normal' phone ring. I'll admit I was definitely one that used to drink the Apple-flavoured Haterade but I'm starting to come around. Yes I hate the proprietary connection aspect of it, which was always one of my criticisms of it. Having said that I rarely use it as an iPod as the only time I really get to listen to music is at work (music is on my computer) or in the car where I have a 6 CD MP3 compatible stacker. So the connectivity isn't such a big deal for me. The camera on this thing is rubbish (2 megapixel and doesn't have a flash) but the iPhone 4 camera is way better and apparently we're looking at getting 8 megapixel ones in the iPhone 5 if/when it comes out. Apparently it is also going to feature A5 dual core processing (whatever the hell that ACTUALLY means!) that will allow full multitasking and improve speed etc. Oh and of course battery life as it is more efficient. Or something.

Keenly awaiting responses as I am in IDENTICAL situation!

Just downloaded an internet radio App on iPhone (I've only had one for about a month, and am not a big radio listener anyway generally) Anyone suggest any good metal radio stations from around the globe?

Mine (car) has already been bought and sold, but was 27 when I bought it!

Are you saying he's not sophistimacated enough to own a G6ET tab??!!

I get a tax deduction for my running costs so the more I spend I save some in tax. I still have to pay of curse but I get SOMETIING back!

The silver lining: The more it costs to run my car, the more the Government kicks in for me. Praise Allah for salary packaging