For those of you thinking of salary sacrifice, here is a quick method of working out how much it will cost you: a. Divide the laptop by 1.1 to remove GST b. Subtract the % income tax you're on from the GST free amount to get the cost e.g. laptop cost is $2200 incl GST, and your tax rate is 35%. a. 2200 / 1.1 = 2000 b. 2000 - 35%(2000) = $1300 Our company allows salary sacrifice and many of us take advantage of it. Cheers Carole -----Original Message----- From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Fullerton Sent: Tuesday, 18 May 2004 12:53 PM To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: atw: Re: Buying a new laptop I'm about to be in the market for a new laptop, too (since mine was recently removed from my house by someone whose fingerprints identify as a transient). I'm certainly going to consider the salary-packaging option, there was an article about it in the new Choice Money magazine (or whatever it's called) - the example they gave was someone purchasing a $5,000 computer and saving just under half of that by packaging. I'd like some opinions though - I'm considering buying a Mac. I'm sick to death of all the MS patches that need to be applied, and all the viruses that run rampant through the patches. My flatmate had a Mac laptop (until it was removed by the same fingerprinted individual) - and she just used the software that it came with, with no problems. She's not a power word-processor user by any means, but she did write a book on it. She also used it to bring work home, and I don't think she suffered any incompatibility problems (Windows at work). I've used both Mac and PC in my chequered career, and though I haven't used Mac in a while I never had any issues with it, apart from Word for Mac being so crap (at the time, might be better now).=20 Do people have preferences for Mac or PC laptops? and why? =20 -----Original Message----- From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Stewart Walker Sent: Tuesday, 18 May 2004 12:25 PM To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: atw: Re: Buying a new laptop One thing to consider is that laptops get a concessional treatment from a fringe benefits tax viewpoint. If your employer offers salary packaging, it's cheaper to include a laptop in your package and get a reduced cash salary, than it is to buy it with your after-tax pay. This is just my understanding, I'm not an accountant or lawyer, get your own indepdent advice, etc, etc. Cheers Stewart --- Cathy.Morison@xxxxxxxxx wrote: > I really need a new laptop and now is probably about > the best time of =3D > year to > buy one. >=20 > However, what are your experiences on the relative > merits (financial/tax > advantages) of paying cash, business lease/rent or > hire purchase? >=20 > As you can guess, I am not a very financially > literate person! >=20 > Any advice appreciated. >=20 > Cathy Morison > Technical Writer > Database Development, PMD > Geoscience Australia > ABN: 80 091 799 039=3D20 > Website: www.ga.gov.au=3D20 > ************************************************** > To post a message to austechwriter, send the message > to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx >=20 > To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to > austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" > in the Subject field. >=20 > To unsubscribe, send a message to > austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with > "unsubscribe" in the Subject field. >=20 > To search the austechwriter archives, go to > www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter >=20 > To contact the list administrator, send a message to > austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > ************************************************** =09 =09 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! - Internet access at a great low price. http://promo.yahoo.com/sbc/ ************************************************** To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field. To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field. To search the austechwriter archives, go to www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter To contact the list administrator, send a message to austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ************************************************** ************************************************** To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field. To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field. To search the austechwriter archives, go to www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter To contact the list administrator, send a message to austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ************************************************** ************************************************** To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field. To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field. To search the austechwriter archives, go to www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter To contact the list administrator, send a message to austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **************************************************