The RBA has increased its official cash rate by another 0.5% taking it to 0.85% for the second rate hike in this cycle. This was above market expectations. Our expectation was for a 0.4% hike with the risk that it would be 0.5%.

Australians who received government support during the COVID-19 pandemic have been warned to include it as income in their tax returns.

The personal super contributions that you claim as a deduction will count towards your concessional contributions cap.

After a massive 28.6% gain from their pandemic low – which was the biggest gain over 21 months since 2003 – national average home prices fell for the first time in May since September 2020 based on CoreLogic data.

Australia is in for a period of banking sector turbulence as households deal with rising inflation and mortgage payments, the industry regulator says.

A number of changes were proposed by the Government during the election campaign, and support was also announced for a number of proposals made by the previous Government.

The ALP won the election and is set to Govern most likely in its in own right or as a minority government.

It was another volatile weak in share markets with worries that rate hikes, cost pressures and Chinese supply disruptions would hit profits after downgrades from some US retailers and tech stocks.

Government grants or payments you receive if you or your business have been impacted by COVID-19 may have tax implications.

Share markets had another rough week with ongoing worries about monetary tightening to combat high inflation driving a possible recession, before a bounce from oversold levels at the end of the week.

The recent surge in inflation both domestically and globally is well known, with Australian annual headline inflation increasing to 5.1% over the year to March (the highest in 22 years) and the trimmed mean (the Reserve Bank’s preferred underlying inflation measure) at 3.7% per annum, well above the 2-3% inflation target and the highest rate since 2009.

Last year saw very strong investment returns and was relatively calm in investment markets.

Fed’s determination to see off inflation with rate rises has not been seen since the 1980s.

Special rules apply if you receive an employment termination payment, genuine redundancy payment or payments from an approved early retirement scheme.

Investment markets and key developments over the past week
It was a turbulent week for markets after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.5% at its May board meeting.