Budget is a ute beauty for biz

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SMALL BUSINESS

SMALL businesses are the big winners from the federal government, with billions in incentive schemes and tax cuts on offer.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has unveiled a range of measures to get struggling businesses back on their feet in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the withdrawal of the JobKeeper wage subsidy in March.

With business conditions at record highs, the government has pledged $20.7bn – in its biggest single revenue concession – to extend the temporary full expensing and temporary loss carry back provisions by a year.

The temporary full expensing provisions, which were expanded last year, will now allow all businesses with a turnover of less than $5bn to instantly write off asset purchases of any value bought between October 6 last year and June 30, 2023.

Mr Frydenberg said the expanded scheme had already “seen their spending on machinery and equipment increase at the faster rate in nearly seven years’’.

It would mean that a “tradie can buy a new ute, a farmer a new harvester and a manufacturer expand their production line,’’ he said.

Budget documents noted that Gold Coast businesses were “particularly reliant” on JobKeeper but Mr Frydenberg said measures, such as the government’s loan scheme, had already helped more than 45,000 businesses access low-cost fi

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg

nance. He announced greater assistance for businesses struggling with debt recovery.

“Small and family businesses are the engine room of our economy. They are at the heart of every local community,” he said in his budget speech.

“As they strive to recover, we need the tax system to work for them, not against them, so we provide small business with peace of mind that an independent umpire will stand between them and the ATO when it comes to debt recovery actions.

“We will take these disputes out of the courts and let small business get on with what they do best.”

Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall said the budget had several measures which would help the city “make hay while the sun shines” as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 downturn.

“It is great to see the continuation of the asset write-off mechanism because it has gone gangbusters for us on the Gold Coast,” he said.

“I am excited to see more funding for childcare to get more women back into the workforce because the unemployment rate remains higher than we would like it to be.

“Hopefully this will work.”