Share     Facebook icon Twitter icon Twitter icon

Updated Government Stimulus Package

We are committed to providing our clients with trusted advice in this difficult time. We are monitoring the regular government, bank and ATO department announcements.  We will provide more information and updates as available

Many of our team are now working from home and have access to your relevant documents to ensure we can communicate if we have restricted access to our office for any period of time.

We are available for meetings with Zoom, Skype or phone, please contact your adviser directly.

Please rest assured that there will be no fee associated with these ‘peace of mind’ calls or Zoom/Skype meetings.   Our commitment is to keep your financial wellbeing on track and assist you make the right decisions during this period.

Updated Government Stimulus Package

The Government released a second stimulus package to increase income support payments, introduce changes to the superannuation access rules, provides cash flow support of up to $100,000 for small business employers.

  • Tax-free payments up to $100,000 for small business and not-for-profit employers.  Eligible businesses with a turnover of less than $50 million will initially be able to access tax-free cash flow support.  The cash flow support measures will be provided in the form of a credit in the business activity statement system. The support will be provided in two phases.

    • The first phase ensures eligible employers receive a credit equal to 100% of the PAYG amounts withheld from wages paid to employees during the relevant period, up to the maximum amount of $50,000.  Businesses that lodge BAS on a quarterly basis will be eligible to receive credits in the first phase for the quarters ending March 2020 and June 2020

    • The second phase ensures eligible employers receive another series of credits, equal to the credits that were received under the first phase. These additional credits will be spread over two or four activity statement periods, depending on whether the employer lodges on a quarterly or monthly basis. Credits in the second phase will be available for the June 2020, July 2020, August 2020 and September 2020.

    If a business pays wages to employees but is not required to withhold any tax then a minimum payment of $10,000 will be made in the first phase and a further payment of $10,000 will be made in the second phase.

  • Early release of superannuation – individuals in financial distress able to access up to $10,000 of their superannuation in 2019-20, and a further $10,000 in 2020-21. If your employee is made redundant or their hours/pay are reduced by 20%, they will be able to access up to $20,000 from their superannuation fund.  They will need to apply online via myGov.

  • Support for employees - Permanent employees who are stood down or lose their employment, sole traders, the self-employed, casual workers and contract workers will be able to access the new coronavirus supplement of $550 per fortnight, under expanded access to the JobSeeker Payment, formerly known as Newstart.  The supplement will also be paid to both existing and new recipients of the JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance jobseeker, Parenting Payment, Farm Household Allowance and Special Benefit.

  • Business investment support – For new assets purchased, over $150,000, an immediate deduction of 50% of the cost of the asset on installation and existing depreciation rules applying on the balance of the asset cost.

  • Temporary reduction in minimum superannuation draw down rates – superannuation minimum drawdown requirements for account based pensions and similar products reduced by 50% in 2019-20 and 2020-21

We will know the finer details next week, as these measures have not become legislation yet. We will send you the updates as soon as they become available.

Cash Flow

Loans

Westpac has provided various concessions for their customers. See the below linked summary.  They are also working with the regulators on other measures and we will forward to you when we receive them. The focus is reducing the monthly loan commitment through regulator approved changes to loan structures.

Westpac customer concessions >>

ATO Relief

The ATO have provided a few relief options to assist businesses impacted by COVID-19:

  •  Deferring by up to six months the payment date of amounts due through the business activity statement (including PAYG instalments), income tax assessments, fringe benefits tax assessments and excise

  • Allow businesses on a quarterly reporting cycle to opt into monthly GST reporting in order to get quicker access to GST refunds they may be entitled to

  • Allowing businesses to vary Pay As You Go (PAYG) instalment amounts to zero for the March 2020 quarter. Please contact your advisor to discuss your options

  • Remitting any interest and penalties, incurred on or after 23 January 2020, that have been applied to tax liabilities

  • Working with affected businesses to help them pay their existing and ongoing tax liabilities by allowing them to enter into low interest payment plans.

We wish you all well during this difficult period and rest assured we will be here to support you through it.

For those of you who are working the front line of this insidious virus, please stay safe and our thoughts are with you every day.