Last night the federal budget announced several initiatives that will help small and medium businesses improve their cashflow, invest in digital upgrades, and attract apprentices and young workers.

  • The 10 per cent GDP uplift rate that applies to PAYG and GST instalments will be reduced to 2 per cent for the 2022/23 financial year (pending support for legislation).
  • $1 billion over four years so small businesses can claim 120% of digital assets and training, like the cost of laptops, cloud computing and other services to help them “go digital”.
    Eligible expenditure includes items such as portable payment devices, cyber security systems and subscriptions to cloud-based services.
    The boost will apply to expenditure incurred from 7:30pm (AEDT) on 29 March 2022 (Budget night) until 30 June 2023.
  • $550 million to cover 120% of the cost of any external staff training courses delivered to employees in Australia or online by providers registered in Australia.This boost will apply to eligible expenditure incurred from Budget night until 30 June 2024.
  • $2.4 billion to boost apprenticeship uptake. Apprentices in high-demand industries will get up to $5000 in cash payments for the first two years of their training, while employers can access a 10% wage subsidy that will drop to 5% in the third year.
  • Petrol excise reduction from 44.2 cents per litre to 22.1 cents per litre for six months from 30 March.
  • Businesses with annual turnovers of less than $50 million will be allowed to lodge and pay excise and excise-equivalent customs duty on a quarterly basis, from 1 July 2023. Currently, most of these businesses report monthly, with some reporting weekly.
  • Real-time PAYG calculations based on financial performance. Companies that report losses or lower than anticipated profits will get an automatic refund of tax paid from 2024.

 

ScotPac CEO Jon Sutton said SMEs are currently facing challenges on many fronts and letting small business get on with running their business must be a priority for any Government.

“Excessive regulation and compliance is a hand brake on small business and the economy. Some of the budget measures to reduce compliance and red tape are therefore welcome to help small business get back on their feet.”

How can we help

We understand the pressures SMEs are currently facing and are committed to helping the SME sector. Contact your relationship manager to talk to us about your funding needs.