The Federal Government’s Second Stimulus Package
Sunday night (22 March), the Prime Minister announced the second stimulus package to assist businesses and individuals through the Coronavirus period. The following is the taxation related content.
Employee PAYG Refund
For businesses and certain not-for-profits who employ people and have a turnover of less than $50 Million, the government will now refund 100% of employee PAYG taxation deducted, with a minimum of $20,000 and a maximum of up to $100,000.
The refund is for employees who were registered prior to 12 March 2020. Note the Government has been very specific on this date and have announced in their guidance that “the entity (or an associate or agent of an entity) has not engaged in a scheme for the sole or dominant purpose of seeking to make the entity entitled to the first cash flow boost or increase the entitlement of the entity to the first cash flow boost.”
The payment is calculated over 2 periods being: March to June 2020 and July to September 2020.
The payment is calculated over 2 periods being: March to June 2020 and July to October 2020.
For each period the minimum payment is $10,000 and the maximum is $50,000. That is, even if your employee PAYG is less than $10,000, the amount refunded will be $10,000.
The amount refunded will be credited to the business’ ATO account; if there is a current debt the PAYG refund will reduce this debt, but if there is no current debt the amount will be refunded to the business.
See this attachment for examples of how this would work. examples of how this would work.
For more see information see: https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/Fact_sheet-Cash_flow_assistance_for_businesses_0.pdf
Instant Asset Write Off & Apprentice Payments
There are no changes to the measure announced in the last package.
Registration for the Apprentice payments subsidy will be available in April 2020, for more information see www.dese.gov.au/
Small Businesses with No Employees
Small businesses without employees will now be able to access government payments – i.e. the Jobseeker Payment. There will also be a Coronavirus supplement of $550 paid per fortnight.
These payments will be available through Centrelink with reduced waiting times, asset tests and increased access.
For more information see: https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/Fact_sheet-Income_Support_for_Individuals.pdf
Superannuation
There are 2 initiatives that have been announced with respect to superannuation:
- Reduction in minimum superannuation pensions. To preserve the value of superannuation assets, the minimum pension that is required to be withdrawn from a superannuation fund has been reduced by 50% for the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 financial years. For more information see: https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/Fact_sheet-Providing_support_for_retirees_to_manage_market_volatility.pdf
- Early access to superannuation. You will now be able to access part of your superannuation if you were unemployed, eligible for certain government payments or you were either made redundant, had reduced working hours of 20% or (as a sole trader) had a reduction in turnover of 20% since 1 January 2020.
If you qualify, you can access 2 payments of up to $10,000; the first $10,000 prior to 1 July 2020 and the second $10,000 after 1 July 2020.
For more information see: https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/Fact_sheet-Early_Access_to_Super_1.pdf
For more information on the government incentives and how you can access them please do not hesitate to contact me on 0421 002 238