For your reference we provide the following summary of current federal and state government stimulus measures as well as a summary of actions being taken by the ATO to support businesses.
We will continually update this page to ensure our clients have access to the latest information and this should be your first port of call to find information on how our federal and state governments are responding to support businesses and the community through the Coronavirus crisis.
Federal Government
Support for Individuals & Households
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| Stimulus Measures | Key Features | |
| Income support for individuals | 6 month expansion of eligibility to income support payments and $550 Coronavirus supplement | Find out more |
| Payments to support Households | 2 x $750 payments to social security, veteran and income support recipients | Find out more |
| Temporary Early Release of Superannuation | Eligible individuals to have access to up to $20,000 of your superannuation | Find out more |
| Temporarily reducing superannuation minimum drawdown rates | 50% reduction in minimum pension drawdowns for FY20 & FY21 and reduction of deeming rates | Find out more |
| Reduction in social security deeming rates | Reduction in deeming rates for income support recipients (including Age Pensioners) to reflect our current low interest rate environment | Find out more |
Support for Businesses
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| Stimulus Measures | Key Features | |
| Boosting cash flow for employers | Employers to receive up to 100% of their PAYG withholding as a credit to their ICA up to a maximum of $100,000 ($50,000 in FY20, $50,000 in FY21) | Find out more |
| Temporary Relief for Financially Stressed Businesses | Temporary loosening of the rules relating to statutory demands, creditor action and insolvent trading | Find out more |
| Increasing the instant asset write-off | Temporary increase of instant asset write-off threshold from $30,000 to $150,000 for all business with turnover < $500m | Find out more |
| Backing Business Investment | 15 month acceleration in depreciation rates for business with turnover < $500m | Find out more |
| Supporting apprentices and trainees | Up to 50% wage subsidy for eligible employers who retain an apprentice or trainee | Find out more |
| Assistance for severely affected regions and sectors | $1 billion through government programs and initiatives to support those most affected by the Coronavirus | Find out more |
| Supporting the immediate cash flow needs of SME’s | Establishment of a Coronavirus SME Guarantee Scheme to guarantee up to $40b of new lending to SME’s on favourable terms | Find out more |
| Quick and efficient access to credit for small business | Temporary exemption to responsible lending obligations for lenders to streamline and fast track lending to SME’s | Find out more |
| RBA Supporting the flow and reducing the cost of credit | RBA to provide $90b term funding to banks at fixed rate of 0.25% with incentives to lend to SME’s | Find out more |
| APRA ensuring banks are well placed to lend | Temporary loosening of bank capital ratios to maximise liquidity available to banks for lending to SME’s | |
| Supporting businesses to retain jobs | Eligible Employers will receive $1,500 a fortnight (paid monthly in arrears) per eligible employee as a wage subsidy. The payment must be passed through to the employee in full even if they ordinarily earn less than $1,500 per fortnight. | Find out more |
Australian Taxation Office
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| Stimulus Measures | Key Features | |
| Payment deferrals | If you have been affected by COVID-19 the ATO will work with you to defer payments for up to 6 months | Find out more |
| PAYGI Instalment variation | Option to vary PAYG instalments on March 2020 BAS to nil to get a refund of instalments already paid. This effectively defers tax payable until lodgement of FY20 ITR without penalty/interest. | Find out more |
| Remission of interest & penalties | Remission of penalties and interest incurred after 23 January, 2020 by businesses impacted by COVID-19 | Find out more |
| Low interest repayment plans | Availability of low interest and longer term repayment arrangements for businesses impacted by COVID-19 | Find out more |
State Government
Support for Businesses
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| Stimulus Measures | Key Features | |
| Payroll tax waiver | Waiver of payroll tax obligations for Q4 FY20 for businesses with payrolls up to $10m | Find out more |
| Bringing forward payroll tax cuts | Increase in payroll tax threshold to $1m from 1 July 2020 | Find out more |
| Fee and charges waivers for a small business | Waiver of fees and charges for small business including bars, cafes, restaurants and trades | Find out more |
| Grants to small business employers | Grants of up to $10,000 for highly impacted small business employers. Highly impacted expected to be defined as a 75% decline in revenue | Find out more |
The information contained on this website and in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Taxation, legal and other matters referred to on this website and in this article are of a general nature only and are based on our interpretation of laws existing at the time and should not be relied upon in place of appropriate professional advice. Those laws may change from time to time.
Published on March 23, 2020 by Progue
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