Supporting
Apprentices and Trainees
The Government is supporting small business to retain their apprentices
and trainees. Eligible employers can apply for a wage subsidy of 50 per cent of
the apprentice’s or trainee’s wage paid during the 9 months from 1 January 2020
to 30 September 2020. Where a small business is not able to retain an
apprentice, the subsidy will be available to a new employer.
Employers will be reimbursed up to a maximum of $21,000 per eligible
apprentice or trainee ($7,000 per quarter).
Eligibility
The subsidy will be available to small businesses employing fewer than
20 full-time employees who retain an apprentice or trainee. The apprentice or
trainee must have been in training with a small business as at 1 March 2020.
Employers of any size and Group Training Organisations that re-engage an
eligible out-of-trade apprentice or trainee will be eligible for the subsidy.
Employers will be able to access the subsidy after an eligibility
assessment is undertaken by an Australian Apprenticeship Support Network (AASN)
provider.
Employers can register for
the subsidy from early April 2020. Final claims for payment must be lodged by
31 December 2020. Contact your apprenticeship provider to make a claim.
CORPORATIONS ACT
The elements of the package are:
- A temporary increase in the threshold at which creditors can issue a statutory demand on a company and the time companies have to respond to statutory demands they receive;
- A temporary increase in the threshold for a creditor to initiate bankruptcy proceedings, an increase in the time period for debtors to respond to a bankruptcy notice, and extending the period of protection a debtor receives after making a declaration of intention to present a debtor’s petition;
- Temporary relief for directors from any personal liability for trading while insolvent; and
- Providing temporary flexibility in the Corporations Act 2001 to provide targeted relief for companies from provisions of the Act to deal with unforeseen events that arise as a result of the Coronavirus health crisis.
For owners or directors of a business that are currently struggling due to the Coronavirus, the ATO will tailor solutions for their circumstances, including temporary reduction of payments or deferrals, or withholding enforcement actions including Director Penalty Notices and wind-ups.
Example:
Steph, Mon and David own a small company that operates a chain of yoga studios in Sydney. Social distancing measures require the participants in the yoga class to be significantly reduced. As a result, their company incurs more debt, to the point where it cannot meet its debts as and when they become due and payable.
Under the provisions of the Corporations Act, the three owners would be personally liable if the business took on further debt without entering an insolvency procedure like voluntary administration or liquidation.
However, during the six month period in which the temporary relief is offered, their business can continue to open their yoga studios so that they can maintain their customers and quickly resume normal operations when the crisis has passed, and continue to incur debt. When economic conditions improve, the company can pay back the debt incurred.
Business Activity Statements
- Up to 4-month deferrals for payments on BAS, PAYG, Income Assessment FBT & excise.
- GST reporting businesses can opt into monthly GST reporting to get faster access to GST refunds.
- PAYG Instalments (this is pre-paid income tax) can be varied to nil for the April 2020 quarter.
- Businesses that vary PAYG Instalments (pre-paid income tax) to nil can claim a refund for instalments for the Sep 19 and Dec 19 quarters.
Make sure you contact your registered BAS or TAX Agent to help with the above.
PAYGI - Pay As You Go Installments (Pre-Paid Income Tax)
You can vary your PAYGI if they don’t reflect your current financial circumstances and will result in you paying too much tax for the financial year. There will be no penalties or interest charged to varied installments for the 2019–20 year if you over-vary.
If you are a large corporate, any variation to your installment rate and payments must align to what your final tax liability for the year is likely to be. You can't ask for a refund on all installments paid for the financial year to date anticipating that you will end up with a tax liability at the end of the financial year.
If you have an approved substituted account period (SAP), you can also vary your PAYG installment amount. Any variation must relate to installments made during the corresponding SAP; 2019–20 year for late balances and 2020–21 for early balances.
Provided you use your best endeavours to estimate your yearly tax liability at the time you are varying your installments, you will not be subject to penalties or interest even if your variation is greater than 15% at year end. To reduce the potential impact of a large financial tax liability, you are able to make multiple variations throughout the year.
If you think you should vary your PAYGI please contact your tax accountant now to have this done. A tax accountant is the only one who is able to give you advice in relation to this as it's income tax related.
Find out more here.
Commercial
Tenancies
The National Cabinet agreed that states and territories would implement
the attached mandatory Code of Conduct (the Code), including via legislation or
regulation as appropriate, to implement the principles agreed on Friday 3
April. The Code builds on the draft codes submitted by landlord and tenant
representative bodies in the commercial property sector.
The
purpose of the Code is to impose a set of good faith leasing principles for
application to commercial tenancies (including retail, office and industrial)
between owners/operators/other landlords and tenants, in circumstances where
the tenant is a small-medium sized business (annual turnover of up to $50
million) and is an eligible business for the purpose of the Commonwealth
Government's JobKeeper Program.
National
Cabinet agreed that there would be a proportionality to rent reductions based
on the tenant's decline in turnover to ensure that the burden is shared between
landlords and tenants. The Code provides a proportionate and measured burden
share between the two parties while still allowing tenants and landlords to
agree to tailored, bespoke and appropriate temporary arrangements that take
account of their particular circumstances.
National
Cabinet again noted that it expects Australian and foreign banks along with
other financial institutions operating in Australia, to support landlords and
tenants with appropriate flexibility as they work to implement the Mandatory
Code.
The
Commonwealth Government is also acting as a model landlord by waiving rents for
all its small and medium enterprises and not-for-profit tenants within its
owned and leased property across Australia.
The
Rent Relief Policy will include a mutual obligation requirement on the small
and medium sized enterprises and not-for-profit tenants to continue to engage
their employees through the JobKeeper initiative where eligible, and if
applicable, provide rent relief to their subtenants.
You will find the
Commercial Tenancies Code of Conduct here.
Disclaimer
The information in this document is for general information only. This is Shoebox Tax’s interpretation of the law as recently
passed in the Australian Parliament. This may or may not align with the views of the ATO. Until our understanding has been
confirmed by the ATO this remains Shoebox Tax’s interpretation only.
This should not be taken as constituting profession advice from Shoebox Tax. You should access other advice to check how the
law relates to your unique circumstances. This information is offered in good faith and Shoebox Tax is not liable for any loss
caused, whether due to negligence or otherwise arising from the use of, or reliance on, the information provided directly or
indirectly , in this document.