The Rudd Government is to consider two new measures to simplify small business taxation and reduce small business compliance costs. The potential changes, relating to income tax and GST, are designed to make it easier for small businesses to comply with their tax obligations.An entity flow-through tax regime, developed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Deloitte, proposes that ownership arrangements will be set to one side for income tax purposes. Instead, the entity is treated like a... ...Read more »
The Federal Budget, announced on May 13, has changed legislation to ensure that workplace lunches can no longer be considered a salary sacrifice. Paying for lunch with pre-tax money has, not surprisingly, become increasingly popular over the past few years and caterers are disappointed with the government’s decision. In order to receive the benefits employees needed to have a ’smart card’ and upload credit to make pre-tax lunch purchases. The savings for employees were... ...Read more »
The Federal Budget was delivered on May 13 to a mixed response as the Government seeks to exhibit a fiscally conservative attitude to the Australian economy. There was consequently a mix of good and bad news for members of the food industry amidst a budget which delivered a record surplus of $21.7 billion. Food producers and manufacturers were winners to some degree but it appears food retail were provided with minimal benefit from the budget. Regional Food Producers Innovation and Productivity... ...Read more »
The Federal Budget always has great implications on businesses and provided below is a number of opinions from select industry groups. Australian Retailers Association The peak industry group in Australia’s retail sector has said that the budget delivers “the good, the bad, and the ugly” for Australian retailers. “By delivering on promises, Australians will benefit from tax cuts of $46.7 billion over four years which will hopefully flow back into a stalled retail consumer... ...Read more »
In the wake of the 70% tax increase on ‘ready to drink’ alcoholic beverages (RTD’s) which has shocked consumers and industry professionals alike, the Rudd government is also set to levy a higher tax on beer and wine. Such an action threatens the future of the local micro brewing industry, according to Snowy Mountains Brewery director Kevin O’Neill. “This tax comes on top of 50% excise already paid per carton and makes it almost impossible to survive for most in... ...Read more »
The Victorian and ACT Governments have released their budgets for 2008/09 and retailers have been provided with some much needed tax relief. The ACT Government announced a 20% payroll tax threshold increase to $1.5 million, which is designed to provide some assistance to small and medium enterprises. The Victorian Government, meanwhile, announced $1.43 billion worth of cuts to taxes and business costs. Treasurer John Lenders claimed the tax cuts were able to be implemented due to the Government’s... ...Read more »