NEWSFLASH - What does the $17.6bn stimulus package mean for your business?
As coronavirus continues to grip the world economy and the WHO (World Health Organisation) have now upgraded the coronavirus to a pandemic, global markets continue to go into meltdown and global supply chains appear to be frozen.
Whilst there are signs that within China, the growth of infected individuals is slowing, and that supply chain operations are starting to resume, the broader global impact is still a huge unknown.
The government have announced a $17.6bn stimulus package that will directly benefit welfare recipients, small and medium businesses and tourism and other virus-hit business to help stave off a coronavirus recession.
The Government’s economic response targets four key areas which we have summarised for you below, breaking down simply how you can benefit (including links to the treasury fact sheets for each area):
Cash flow assistance for employers
Delivering support for business investment
Stimulus payments to households to support growth
Assistance for severely affected regions
Cashflow Assistance for Employers
Access up to $25,000 in cash benefits that will be offset against your PAYGW obligations from your March and June quarterly BAS payments (or March, April, May, June 2020 BAS' if you lodge monthly).
Eligible businesses that withhold tax to the ATO on their employees’ salary and wages will receive a payment equal to 50 percent of the amount withheld, up to a maximum payment of $25,000.
Effectively, in order to receive the full $25,000 benefit, you will have to withhold at least $50,000 of PAYGW (not gross earnings) in the March and June 2020 quarterly BAS (or equivalent monthly BAS').
Details available at this link
Enhancing the Instant Asset Write Off
Lifting the threshold to $150,000 (from $30,000) and expanding access to businesses with aggregated annual turnover of less than $500 million (up from $50 million) until 30 June 2020.
The threshold applies on per asset basis, so eligible businesses can immediately write-off multiple assets.
This new threshold ONLY applies from today until 30 June 2020, for new or second-hand assets first used or installed ready for use in this timeframe.
Details available at this link
Stimulus Payments to Households to Support Growth
One-off payments of $750 will be paid to around 6.5 million lower-income Australians, including pensioners, other social security and veteran income support recipients and eligible concession card holders. This is to help them through this uncertain time and support economic activity.
To be eligible, you must be residing in Australia and be receiving certain benefit payments or hold one certain concession cards on 12 March 2020. Full details in the below link.
Details available at this link
Assistance for severely affected regions
$1bn to be spent via initiatives such as the waiver of the Environmental Management Charge for tourism businesses that operate in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and the waiver of entry fees for Commonwealth National Parks.
It will also include additional assistance to help businesses identify alternative export markets or supply chains. Targeted measures will also be developed to further promote domestic tourism.
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) will provide administrative relief for certain tax obligations (similar to relief provided following the bushfires) for taxpayers affected by the Coronavirus outbreak, on a case-by-case basis.
The ATO will set up a temporary shop front in Cairns within the next few weeks with dedicated staff specialising in assisting small business. In addition, the ATO will consider ways to enhance its presence in other significantly affected regions to make it easier for people to apply for relief, including considering further temporary shop fronts and face-to-face options
Details available at this link
