Federal Government Assistance for Businesses

Federal Government Assistance for Businesses

Your business can request deferral of outstanding tax and superannuation guarantee obligations. If you have outstanding liabilities or penalties and you are experiencing difficulty in meeting those then you should contact the ATO so as to discuss the available options. Whether it be a deferral, remittance of penalties and interest or variation of payment schedule. We will post further updates on our web page and Facebook as more guidance comes out of the ATO.

There is a wage subsidy scheme of up to 50% of the wage of an apprentice/trainee and up to a ceiling of $21,000 per apprentice/trainee, for small and medium size businesses. At this point the subsidy is available for wages for the period 1 January 2020 until 30 September 2020 but this may be subject to an extension.

Registrations for this scheme are not yet open and are expected to open early April. The instant asset write-off threshold has been increased from $30,000 to $115,000 for the period 12 March 2020 until 30 June 2020.

Businesses with a turnover of less than $15,000,000 per annum will be eligible for a payment of up to $25,000 which will be delivered directly by the ATO after 28 April 2020 once businesses have lodged their Activity Statements. It appears the payments will range from between $2,000 to $25,000 and be indexed to 50% of the tax withheld on wages/salaries as part of the businesses’ obligations to the ATO.

The details for each of these relief schemes are still emerging and you should monitor the Australia Taxation website  https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Dealing-with-disasters/In- detail/Specific-disasters/COVID-19/.

If you have any questions please give our team a call on 02 6542 5566. We are here to assist you and you may also wish to speak to your accountant.