BUSINESS CASH FLOW ASSISTANCE UPDATE

ENHANCED PAY AS GO WITHHOLDING REBATE

Businesses with turnover of under $50 million will be eligible to receive a payment equal to 100 per cent of their salary and wages withheld (up from 50 per cent), with the maximum payment being increased from $25,000 to $50,000. In addition, the minimum payment is being increased from $2,000 to $10,000.

An additional payment is also being introduced in the July – October 2020 period. Eligible entities will receive an additional payment equal to the total of all of the Boosting Cash Flow for Employers payments they have received. This means that eligible entities will receive at least $20,000 up to a total of $100,000 under both payments.

APPRENTICE WAGE SUBSIDY

Business who employ apprentices and trainees will be offered a subsidy of 50 per cent of an apprentice or trainee's wage for nine months (1 January 2020 to 30 September 2020). To be eligible, you must employ fewer than 20 full-time staff who retain an apprentice or trainee. Where a small business is not able to retain an apprentice, the subsidy will be available to a new employer.

DEFERRED ATO DEBT AND GST CREDITS

Payment Deferrals

If you or your business has been affected by COVID-19, the ATO will work with you to defer some payments and vary instalments you have due. These include your income tax, activity statement, pay as you go (PAYG) instalments, FBT and excise payments by up to six months.

Monthly GST Credits

Turnover more than $20 million

If your GST turnover is more than $20 million you must pay and report monthly.

Turnover less than $20 million

It is worth considering if you should temporarily change your reporting cycle.

If you report quarterly and you are due for a GST refund, moving to monthly reporting means you can get quicker access to GST refunds you are entitled to. However, you need to be aware that:

• you can only change from the start of a quarter, so a change now will take effect from 1 April 2020
• changing your GST reporting cycle doesn't mean you have to change your PAYG withholding reporting cycle – you can manage this by specifying the roles you are changing
• once you choose to report and pay GST monthly, you must keep reporting monthly for 12 months before you can elect to revert to quarterly reporting
• if you're registered for fuel tax credits, and change your GST reporting from quarterly to monthly, you will also need to claim your fuel tax credits monthly.

PAYG instalments

• If you are a quarterly pay as you go (PAYG) instalments payer you can vary your PAYG instalments on your activity statement for the March 2020 quarter. You can do this by lodging a revised activity statement before your instalment is due and before you lodge your tax return for the year. Taxpayers that vary their PAYG instalment rate or amount can also claim a refund for any instalments made for the September 2019 and December 2019 quarters.
• Where you choose to vary your PAYG instalments the ATO won't apply penalties or charge interest to varied instalments for the 2019–20 financial year.

Low interest payment plans



• If your business has been affected by COVID-19 and you need help to pay your existing and ongoing tax liabilities, the ATO will discuss entering into a low interest payment plan.

NSW PAYROLL TAX RELIEF

Payroll tax customers whose total grouped Australian wages for the 2019/20 financial year are no more than $10 million will have their annual tax liability reduced by 25% when they lodge their annual reconciliation, which is due on 28 July.

For those customers who lodge and pay monthly and whose total Australian wages will be no more than $10 million for the current financial year, no payment for the months of March, April or May 2020 will be required.

When lodging your annual reconciliation, you will still need to provide wage details paid in these months and will receive the benefit of a 25% reduction in the amount of tax you would have had to pay for 2019-20.

The tax-free threshold will increase from $900,000 to $1 million for the financial year commencing on 1 July 2020.

MINIMUM PENSION PAYMENT RULES – SUPERANNUATION

The lowest percentage factor for the minimum pension payment rules would be halved from 4% to 2% for the 30 June 2020 year, and 30 June 2021 year.

Revised minimum pension withdrawal amounts

INSTANT ASSET WRITE OFF

The Government is increasing the instant asset write-off threshold from $30,000 to $150,000 and expanding access to include businesses with aggregated annual turnover of less than $500 million (up from $50 million) until 30 June 2020. In 2017-18 there were more than 360,000 businesses that benefited from the current instant asset write-off, claiming deductions to the value of over $4 billion. This measure will support over 3.5 million businesses (over 99 per cent of businesses) employing more than 9.7 million employees.

ACCELERATING DEPRECIATION DEDUCTIONS

BANKS

RENTAL LEASES

THOMAS HOPPER AND PARTNERS FEES