COVID-19 Stimulus Package - Fordham group

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COVID-19
Stimulus Package
Federal Government Measures
Business
What is the Relief                                Eligibility Criteria                            How to claim                                  Timing

1. BOOSTING CASH FLOW FOR EMPLOYERS PAYMENTS (ENHANCED)

A. Employers will receive a payment equal to • Small and medium-sized business entities • The cash flow boost provides a tax-free         • Payment will begin from 28 April 2020
   100% of their salary and wages withheld     with aggregated annual turnover under $50     payment to employers and is automatically      upon employers lodging eligible upcoming
   (up from 50%) with the max payment being    million (based on prior year turnover) and    calculated by the Australian Taxation Office   activity statements. Where the credit
   increased from $25,000 to $50,000 and the   that employ workers are eligible.             (ATO).                                         places the entity in a refund position, the
   minimum payment is being increased from • Eligible employers that withhold tax to       • There are no new forms required.               ATO will deliver the refund within14 days.
   $2,000 to $10,000.                          the ATO on their employees’ salary and      • The payment will be delivered by the           o Quarterly lodgers will be eligible to
                                               wages will receive a payment equal to 100     ATO as an automatic credit in the activity        receive the payment for the quarters
                                               per cent of the amount withheld, up to a      statement system                                  ending March 2020 and June 2020.
                                               maximum payment of $50,000.                                                                  o Monthly lodgers will be eligible to
                                             • Eligible employers that pay salary and                                                          receive the payment for the March
                                               wages will receive a minimum payment of                                                         2020, April 2020, May 2020 and June
                                               $10,000, even if they are not required to                                                       2020 lodgements.
                                               withhold tax in the relevant period.                                                       • The minimum payment will be applied to
                                             • The payments will only be available to                                                       the entities’ first lodgement.
                                               active eligible employers established prior
                                               to 12 March 2020.

B. Additional payment is also being               • To qualify for the additional payment,        • The cash flow boost provides a tax-free      • The additional payment will be applied
   introduced in the July – October 2020            the entity must continue to be active –         payment to employers and is automatically      to a limited number of activity statement
   period. Eligible businesses will receive an      specifically, this means that they must         calculated by the Australian Taxation Office   lodgements. Where the credit places the
   additional payment equal to the total of all     lodge a GST return during the relevant          (ATO).                                         entity in a refund position, the ATO will
   of the Boosting Cash Flow for Employers          period.                                       • There are no new forms required.               deliver the refund within 14 days.
   payments they have received (i.e. the          • Eligible businesses will receive at least     • The payment will be delivered by the           o Quarterly lodgers will be eligible to
   same amount that they received under A           $20,000, up to a total of $100,000 total        ATO as an automatic credit in the activity        receive the additional payment for
   above for the January to June period.            under both payments (i.e. $50,000               statement system                                  the quarters ending June 2020 and
                                                    maximum for both the initial and additional                                                       September 2020. Each additional
                                                    payment).                                                                                         payment will be equal to half of their
                                                                                                                                                      total initial Boosting Cash Flow for
                                                                                                                                                      Employers payment (up to a total of
                                                                                                                                                      $50,000).
                                                                                                                                                   o Monthly lodgers will be eligible to
                                                                                                                                                      receive the additional payment for the
                                                                                                                                                      June 2020, July 2020, August 2020 and
                                                                                                                                                      September 2020 lodgements. Each
                                                                                                                                                      additional payment will be equal to a
                                                                                                                                                      quarter of their total initial Boosting
                                                                                                                                                      Cash Flow for Employers payment (up
                                                                                                                                                      to a total of $50,000).
What is the Relief                             Eligibility Criteria                           How to claim                                Timing

2. SUPPORTING APPRENTICES AND TRAINEES

A. Eligible employers can apply for a          • The subsidy will be available to small       • Employers will be able to access the      • Employers can register for the subsidy
   wage subsidy of 50 per cent of the            businesses employing fewer than 20             subsidy after an eligibility assessment     from early April 2020. Final claims
   apprentice’s or trainee’s wage paid           full-time employees who retain an              is undertaken by an Australian              for payment must be lodged by 31
   during the 9 months from 1 January            apprentice or trainee.                         Apprenticeship Support Network              December 2020.
   2020 to 30 September 2020.                  • The apprentice or trainee must have            (AASN) provider
                                                 been in training with a small business
B. Where small business is not able to           as at 1 March 2020.
   retain an apprentice, the subsidy will be   • Employers of any size and Group
   available to a new employer.                  Training Organisations that re-engage
                                                 an eligible out-of-trade apprentice or
C. Employers will be reimbursed up to            trainee will be eligible for the subsidy.
   a maximum of $21,000 per eligible
   apprentice or trainee ($7,000 per
   quarter).

3. TEMPORARY RELIEF FOR FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED BUSINESSES

A. Company directors will have temporary       • The insolvent trading relief will apply to                                               • For the next 6-month period.
   protection against personal liability for     debts incurred in the ordinary course of
   trading whilst insolvent to encourage         the company’s business only.
   companies to continue trading.

B. The Government will increase the
   threshold at which a creditor can put a
   company into insolvency from $2,000 to
   $20,000, and from 21 days to 6 months
   to respond.

C. Personal Insolvency threshold also
   increased from $5,000 to $20,000, with
   reference to the amount required to
   initiate bankruptcy proceedings.
What is the Relief                             Eligibility Criteria                          How to claim                               Timing

4. SUPPORT FOR IMMEDIATE CASH FLOW NEEDS FOR SMES

A. Under the SME Guarantee Scheme, the         • SMEs with a turnover of up to $50           • Discuss this measure with your finance   • The Scheme will commence by early
   Government will provide a guarantee           million will be eligible to receive these     broker or lending institution              April 2020 and be available for new
   of 50 per cent to SME lenders for new         loans                                                                                    loans made by participating lenders
   unsecured loans to be used for working                                                                                                 until 30 September 2020.
   capital, in order to enhance the lending
   ability of the banks. The loan amount
   will be capped at $250,000 and will be
   on a3 year term, with no repayments
   required for the first 6 months. Interest
   will only be incurred on the amount of
   the facility that is drawn down.

B. The Government is providing a               • Must be an existing small business          • Discuss this measure with your finance   • Applies immediately, for a 6-month
   temporary exemption from responsible          customer of the bank, and be used for         broker or lending institution              period.
   lending obligations for lenders providing     business purposes including new credit,
   credit to existing small business             credit limit increases, and restructures
   customers                                     of loans.

5. OTHER GOVERNMENT BASED MEASURES

A. $1 billion has been set aside to assist     • Based on assessment by the Federal          • Based on assessment by the Federal       • Once economic impacts have been
   those that have been disproportionately       Government                                    Government                                 determined.
   affected by economic impacts, including
   tourism, agriculture and education

B. The RBA decreased the cash rate by
   0.25%, and has allowed the banks
   access to capital at a much cheaper
   rate to encourage lending.
Tax measures to support business investment

What is the Relief                             Eligibility Criteria                          How to claim                              Timing

A. Increasing the instant asset write-off      • The Government is expanding access          • Upon lodgement of the business’         • This proposal applies from
   (IAWO) threshold from $30,000 to              so that more businesses can take              income tax return for the year ending     announcement until 30 June 2020,
   $150,000 for new and second-hand              advantage of the IAWO. The annual             30 June 2020                              for new or second-hand assets first
   assets installed and ready for use from       turnover threshold for businesses is                                                    used or installed ready for use in this
   12 March 2020 to 30 June 2020.                increasing from $50 million to $500                                                     timeframe.
                                                 million.
                                               • The IAWO is due to revert to $1,000 for
                                                 small businesses (turnover less than
                                                 $10 million) from 1 July 2020.

B. 15-month investment incentive to            • Businesses with an aggregated               • Upon lodgement of the business’            • The measure applies from 12 March
   accelerate depreciation deductions for        turnover below $500m will be able to          income tax return for the year ending        2020 to 30 June 2021 to new assets
   the purchase of assets that don’t qualify     deduct 50% of the cost of an eligible         30 June 2020                                 that can be depreciated under
   for the above IAWO relief (i.e. because       asset on installation, with existing                                                       Div 40 of ITAA 1997 (i.e. plant,
   it exceeds the $150,000 threshold or          depreciation (or capital allowance) rules                                                  equipment and specified intangible
   was not purchased within the required         applying to the balance of the asset’s                                                     assets, such as patents).
   timeframe)                                    cost.
                                               • It does not apply to second-hand Div
                                                 40 assets, or buildings and other capital
                                                 works depreciable under Div 43 of ITAA
                                                 1997.
ATO administrative relief

What is the Relief                             Eligibility Criteria                        How to claim                                Timing

A. Deferring by up to six months the           • All Measures – The ATO will assess        • All Measures – The ATO will assess        • From March 2020 quarter on a case-by-
   payment date of amounts due                   and tailor a support plan for needs and     and tailor a support plan for needs and     case basis
   through business activity statements          circumstance once being contacted by        circumstance once being contacted by
   (including PAYG instalments), income          the taxpayers                               the taxpayers
   tax assessments, fringe benefits tax
   assessments and excise.

B. 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.

C. Allowing businesses to vary Pay As You
   Go (PAYG) instalment amounts to zero
   for the March 2020 quarter. Businesses
   that vary their PAYG instalment to
   zero can also claim a refund for any
   instalments made for the September
   2019 and December 2019 quarters

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

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

What is the Relief                             Eligibility Criteria                        How to claim                                   Timing

1. ACCESS TO SUPERANNUATION FOR IMPACTED INDIVIDUALS

A. The Government is allowing individuals      • You are unemployed; or                    • Eligible individuals will be able to apply   • The initial payment can occur from mid-
   affected by the crisis to access up to      • you are eligible to receive a job           online through myGov. If approved, they        April 2020 (and before 1 July 2020) after
   $10,000 of their superannuation in prior      seeker payment, youth allowance for         will not need to pay tax on the money          applying online through myGov.
   to 30 June 2020, and a further $10,000 in     jobseekers, parenting payment (which        released.                                    • Access to the second payment is from
   2020-21.                                      includes the single and partnered                                                          1 July 2020 to 30 September 2020 after
                                                 payments), special benefit or farm                                                         applying online through myGov.
  Individuals will not need to pay tax on        household allowance; or
  amounts released, and the money they         • On or after 1 January 2020:
  withdraw will not affect Centrelink or         o you were made redundant; or
  Veterans’ Affairs payments.                    o your working hours were reduced by
                                                    20 per cent or more; or
                                                 o if you are a sole trader — your
                                                    business was suspended, or there
                                                    was a reduction in your turnover of
                                                    20 per cent or more.

2. REDUCED PENSION WITHDRAWAL PERCENTAGES

A. The Government is temporarily reducing      • Individuals with account-based pensions   • Simply withdraw half of the normal             • 2019-20 and 2020-21 years.
   superannuation minimum drawdown                                                           drawdown requirement for the 2019-20
   requirements for account-based pensions                                                   and 2020-21 years.
   and similar products by 50% for 2019-20
   and 2020-21.

  This measure will benefit retirees by
  providing them with more flexibility as to
  how they manage their superannuation
  assets.
What is the Relief                             Eligibility Criteria                          How to claim                                      Timing

3. REDUCTION IN SOCIAL SECURITY DEEMING RATES

A. The Government is reducing deeming          • To provide benefits to income support
   rates by a further 0.25 percentage points     recipients, including pensioners
   on top of the measures announced in its
   first round of stimulus.

4. INCOME SUPPORT FOR INDIVIDUALS & HOUSEHOLD

A. Eligibility to income support payments to   • Available to new and existing recipient     • Must be done via Centrelink either in           • Available immediately, for the next 6
   be boosted, including access to a new         of the eligible payment categories for        person or online.                                 months.
   Coronavirus supplement payment of $550        the next 6 months.
   per fortnight.                              • Those eligible for the following will be
                                                 able to access the support:
                                                 o Jobseeker Payment
                                                 o Youth Allowance Jobseeker
                                                 o Parenting Payment
                                                 o Farm Household Allowance
                                                 o Special Benefit Recipients

B. Household support to also be boosted via    • Available to social security, veteran and   • If you are already an eligible recipient, you   • The first payment will be paid automatically
   payment of two separate tax-exempt $750       other income support recipients and           don’t need to do anything as the payments         from 31 March 2020.
   payments.                                     eligible concession card holders.             will be automatically made.                     • The second payment will be paid
                                               • For the first payment, the person must      • If not, then contact must be made with            automatically from 13 July 2020.
                                                 have been an eligible payment recipient       Centrelink to ensure the person is
                                                 or concession card holder at any time         appropriately classified.
                                                 from 12 March 2020 to 13 April 2020.
                                               • For the second payment, the person
                                                 must be an eligible payment recipient
                                                 or concession card holder on 10 July
                                                 2020.
State Government Measures
The various State Governments in Australia have released their own economic stimulus packages.

Payroll Tax Relief
One of the consistent measures is relief for businesses on their Payroll Tax obligations as follows:

 State               What is the Relief                                                   Eligibility Criteria                                                    How to claim
 Victoria            •   All eligible businesses will have 100% of their Victorian        •   A business must have annual taxable Victorian wages                 •   Eligible businesses must continue to lodge payroll tax
                         Payroll Tax waived for full 2019-20 financial year.                  of less than $3million.                                                 returns, but do not need to make any payments.
                     •   Eligible businesses will receive a full refund of any Payroll    •   The threshold applies to each individual employer; therefore        •   The State Revenue Office will directly contact eligible
                         Tax paid for the current financial year to date – that is,           any employers who are members of a payroll tax group that               businesses regarding reimbursement for Payroll Tax
                         from 1 July 2019 for the current financial year.                     individually pays wages of less than $3million p.a. will be             already paid in this financial year.
                     •   Eligible businesses can also defer payment of any                    eligible to access the relief, even if on a group basis, the        •   The reimbursements will commence from 27 March 2020.
                         Payroll Tax for the first quarter of the 2020-21 financial           payroll exceeds the $3million threshold.
                         year until October 2020.
                     •   Payments made to employees to top them up to $1,500
                         per fortnight under the JobKeeper program will be exempt,
                         including payments made to stood down employees.

 New South Wales     •   All eligible businesses will have their NSW Payroll Tax          •   A business must have annual taxable Australian wages                •   Eligible businesses must continue to lodge payroll tax
                         waived for the remaining three months of the 2019-20                 of less than $10million. This applies on a grouped basis.               returns, but do not need to make any payments for their
                         financial year (April – June 2020). This will save eligible                                                                                  payroll tax obligations for the months of March, April &
                         businesses a quarter of their 2020 financial year’s                                                                                          May 2020.
                         Payroll Tax; and
                     •   Increasing the payroll tax-free threshold for all
                         businesses for the 2020-21 financial year to $1million
                         (up from $900,000).
 Queensland          •   Businesses that have been directly or indirectly                 •   A business must have annual taxable Australian wages                •   You can lodge an application at the email address
                         impacted by the coronavirus can apply for QLD                        of less than $6.5million.                                               provided below, prior to 31 May 2020*
                         Payroll Tax relief or deferral.
                     •   Requires an individual business to apply for relief or deferral.

 Tasmania            •   All eligible businesses will have their Tasmanian Payroll        •   An eligible business operating in the hospitality, tourism          •   Application processes will be released soon. Check the
                         Tax waived for the remaining four months of the 2019-20              and seafood industries will have automatic approval;                    Tasmanian State Revenue Office website for further details.
                         financial year (March – June 2020).                              •   Other businesses with annual payrolls of up to $5million will
                                                                                              also be able to apply for a waiver, but eligibility will be based
                                                                                              on how significantly the virus has affected business. Further
                                                                                              detail on these criteria has not yet been released.
 South Australia     •   All eligible businesses will have their South Australian         •   A business must have annual taxable Australia grouped               •   For businesses under the $4million threshold no
                         Payroll Tax waived for the next six-months (April to                 wages of less than $4million receive the waiver concession.             application is required and RevenueSA will notify
                         September 2020).                                                 •   Employers with grouped annual wages above $4m are                       eligible businesses online.
                                                                                              able to defer payment for six months where they can                 •   Monthly payroll tax returns must still be lodged
                                                                                              show that they have been significantly impacted.                        during the period.
                                                                                                                                                                  •   For businesses over the $4million threshold,
                                                                                                                                                                      an application will need to be submitted online
                                                                                                                                                                      to obtain a payroll tax deferral.

*https://www.business.qld.gov.au/running-business/employing/payroll-tax/lodging/coronavirus-tax-relief
The Victorian Government has also announced the following measures that may be
applicable to some Business owners:

Land Tax Measures
Relief available for eligible landlords:
-    25% reduction for each eligible property for the 2020 land tax assessment.
-    Deferral of the remaining 75% of 2020 land tax until 31 March 2021.

Eligibility criteria
-    Applies to landlords of both commercial and residential property who have provided rent relief to
     tenants who have been impacted by COVID-19.
-    For commercial landlords, the tenant must have annual turnover less than $50 million, and be eligible
     for the JobKeeper program.
-    The relief is also available to landlords who have been unable to secure a tenant because of COVID-19.

How to claim:
-    Eligible landlords can apply for the relief and deferral through the SRO’s online system, My Land Tax.
-    The lease agreement and written evidence of the arrangements agreed with the tenant will need to be
     provided.
-    If not tenanted, details to support efforts to secure a tenant will be required.

Alternative deferral option available:
-    In addition, if not eligible under the above criteria, landowners with at least one non-residential property and
     total taxable landholdings below $1 million can defer their 2020 land tax payment until 31 March 2021.
-    If you have already paid the 2020 land tax, a request can be made to return the payment, which must
     then be repaid to the SRO by the deferral date.
-    Eligible landowners will be contacted directly by the SRO and given the option to defer.

This information has been prepared by Fordham Business Advisors Pty Ltd (Fordham) ABN 77 140 981 853 AFSL 488639 and Perpetual Trustee Company Limited (PTCo) ABN 42 000 001 007, AFSL
236643. Perpetual Private advice and services are provided by PTCo. To view the Perpetual Group’s Financial Services Guide, please click here. Fordham’s liability is limited by a scheme approved under
Professional Standards Legislation. It is general information only and is not intended to provide you with advice or take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider, with
a financial adviser, whether the information is suitable for your circumstances. To the extent permitted by law, no liability is accepted for any loss or damage as a result of any reliance on this information.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    A specialist part of Perpetual
This information is believed to be accurate at the time of compilation and is provided in good faith. Fordham is part of the Perpetual Limited group.
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