BUDGET 2018
Business income tax changes
1.Extending the $20,000 immediate write-off for small business
The Government will extend the $20,000 immediate write-off for small business by a further 12-months to 30 June 2019 for businesses with aggregated annual turnover less than $10 million. Small businesses will be able to immediately deduct purchases of eligible assets costing less than $20,000 first used or installed ready for use by 30 June 2019. Only a few assets are not eligible (such as horticultural plants and in-house software). Assets valued at $20,000 or more (which cannot be immediately deducted) can continue to be placed into the small business simplified depreciation pool (the pool) and depreciated at 15% in the first income year and 30% each income year thereafter. The pool can also be immediately deducted if the balance is less than $20,000 over this period (including existing pools). Further to this, the current ‘lock out’ laws for the simplified depreciation rules (preventing small businesses from re-entering the simplified depreciation regime for five years if they opt out) will continue to be suspended until 30 June 2019.
2. Removing tax deductibility of payments where withholding obligations have been disregarded
From 1 July 2019, businesses will no longer be able to claim a deduction for the following payments:
• Payments to their employees such as wages where they have not withheld any amount of PAYG from these payments (i.e., despite the fact the PAYG withholding requirements apply).
• Payments made by businesses to contractors where the contractor does not provide an ABN and the business does not withhold any amount of PAYG (despite the withholding requirements applying).
3. Introduction of an economy-wide cash payment limit
From 1 July 2019, the Government will introduce a limit of $10,000 for cash payments made to businesses for goods and services. Currently, large undocumented cash payments can be used to avoid tax or to launder money from criminal activity. This measure will require transactions over a threshold to be made through an electronic payment system or cheque. Transactions with financial institutions or consumer to consumer non-business transactions will not be affected.
4 Expanding the contractor payment reporting system
The contractor payment reporting system was first introduced in the building and construction industry and extended to the cleaning and courier industries from 1 July 2018. Under the contractor payment reporting system, businesses are required to report payments to contractors to the ATO. This brings payments to contractors in these industries into line with wages, which are reported to the ATO. The Government has announced it will further expand the contractor payment reporting system to the following industries:
• security providers and investigation services;
• road freight transport; and
• computer system design and related services.
Businesses will need to ensure that they collect information from 1 July 2019, with the first annual report required in August 2020. A new online form will make the reporting process easier.
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