Australian Immigration Daily News

It’s a new year – a time of renewed energy and a time for people to set their goals for the year ahead.

For business owners, it’s also a great time for them to look back at the year gone by and set their goals, including a check that the financial and business goals of the company still meet the needs of the business. As part of this review it makes sense while you’re doing this to review your insurances and ensure your cover is right for your business and you are paying the right price.

As a Migration Agent you are across your requirements for your Professional Indemnity Insurance but have you thought about the other types of insurance your business may need.  If you have an office or even if you work from home and have clients and other members of the public coming to visit you, or if you are going out to meet clients, consider Public Liability insurance, which can help protect your business against the damages from a claim for personal injury or property damage which occurs as a result of your business related activities.

Another consideration is Tax Audit Insurance.  Last year the ATO announced that they would be targeting small businesses with random audits.   The last thing you want during an audit is to spend hours and hours dealing with the auditor.  Having Tax Audit Insurance can help you pay for a professional, such as an accountant, help you deal with the audit whilst you get back to helping your clients.

Whatever policies you do hold, it’s worth doing a review of your policies and making sure you understand exactly what your covered for - so in the event you need to make use of your policy you don’t have any surprises.  Some things to include in your review are:

Re-instatements –   If you make a claim (or series of claims) a “reinstatement” resets your Limit of Indemnity (if your Limit of Indemnity is reached). For example if your policy has $250,000 limit of indemnity and no reinstatements, and you make two claims totalling $250,000 you will need to wait until your policy anniversary for your Limit of Indemnity to be restored and to make a new claim.  (You will only be able to claim for an event that happens after your Limit of Indemnity has been restored).   But if your policy has 1 reinstatement it means that after your two claims, your Limit of Indemnity will be restored once more, allowing for future claims.   Policies vary and may offer no reinstatements, 1 or 2 reinstatements or even unlimited reinstatements.   Understanding this will help you understand the true value of your cover.

The insured name – if you have changed the name of your business the insured name is what ‘covers’ the business so make sure you’ve got the correct name for your cover.

Continuous Cover – does your policy offer you continuity of cover and is your policy claims made?  You’re obliged to disclose any circumstances that may lay rise to a claim. Continuous cover extends cover should a claim arise out of a circumstance you innocently failed to notify under a previous policy (note you need to be continuously insured with the same insurer to qualify for this).

Retroactive Date – This is an important one as some insurance is written on a claims made basis, which means that the policy provides cover only for claims made during the policy period. The retroactive date is the date which your cover effectively commences, regardless of who you were insured with before.   Having a policy with retroactive cover means you will be covered for claims made for circumstances you were unaware of before the policy period commenced (and after the retroactive date). 

The new year is a time to set your business on the course for a successful year ahead, a quick check in on all of the above can help to ensure your business is prepared from a risk perspective.  Whether you need to review your insurance to see you are paying the right price or if you need additional cover for your business – visit www.bizcover.com.au  and they will help you compare a range policies available to you and ensure you get the best price possible! Plus when you quote MABIZ001 you’ll get a 38% discount on your business insurance.