Australia Extends Small Business Assistance Package

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

08 July 2010

The Commissioner of Taxation, Michael D'Ascenzo, has announced that the Australian Taxation Office will extend its Small Business Assistance Package (SBAP) for a further year.

The SBAP, which was originally intended to expire on June 30, 2010, will now run until June 30, 2011, and will continue to be available for eligible businesses with a turnover of AUD2m (USD1.7m) or less. Those businesses have access to a twelve month general interest charge free payment arrangement with the ATO, and a deferral of activity statement payment due dates.

The first year of the SBAP is reported to have been of considerable value to many small businesses across Australia, with almost 100,000 interest free payment arrangements in place, and more than 6,600 activity statement payment deferrals granted.

The revenue cost to the government of extending these measures will be approximately AUD55m in the 2010-11 financial year. The Assistant Treasurer, Nick Sherry, said that the SBAP complements other important tax-related measures which have been announced to support small Australian businesses.

Such businesses will be able to instantly write off of assets costing up to AUD5,000 from 2012-13, and write off other assets (apart from buildings and other capital works) in a single depreciation pool at a rate of 30%. The company tax rate will also be reduced to 29% for eligible small business companies from 2012-13 – one year earlier than for other companies.

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