Increase to SBE Turnover Threshold from $2MIL to 10MIL now backdated to 1st July 2017 – Great news for small business
On 31 March, the Government secured Senate support for the passage through Parliament of legislation to assist small to medium businesses. While company tax cuts were the headline measure, included in the changes was an increase to the Small Business Entity (SBE) turnover threshold. Backdated to 1 July 2016, the SBE turnover threshold has been increased from $2 million to $10 million. Treasury estimates that this will allow an additional 90 000 to 100 000 businesses to qualify for a range of SBE tax concessions including:
- Immediate deductibility for small business start-up expenses
- Simpler depreciation rules
- Simplified trading stock rules
- Roll-over relief for restructures of small businesses
- Deductions for certain prepaid business expenses immediately
- Accounting for GST on a cash basis
- Annual apportionment of input tax credits for acquisitions and importations that are partly creditable
- Paying GST by quarterly instalments worked out by the ATO
- Fringe benefits tax (FBT) car‑parking exemption and
- Pay‑As‑You‑Go (PAYG) instalments based on gross domestic product (GDP)‑adjusted notional tax.
With the legislation and therefore increased SBE eligibilty backdated to 1 July 2016, this presents a tax planning opportunity for business. Among the depreciation concessions is the $20 000 instant asset write-off – giving SBEs the ability to claim as a deduction the full cost of the asset in the year of purchase and installation (rather than having the item depreciated over a number of years).
The real benefit of the write-off is an improvement to your cash-flow – bringing forward deductions rather than having them spread out over more than one year. To claim a deduction in 2016/2017, the asset must have been acquired on or after 1 July 2016 and first used or installed ready for use in your business on or before 30 June 2017.
So if you are contemplating purchasing a depreciating asset for your business (such as furniture, machinery, tools, equipment, small motor vehicle etc.) you may wish to bring forward that purchase to before 1 July 2017 and enjoy the cash-flow benefit.
Contact us for more information
