Budget delivers for Australia’s 2.4m small businesses: tax cuts, business investment top list

MYOB
  • MYOB commends Federal Government for prioritising SMEs in landmark Budget
  • MYOB welcomes focus on SME recovery through measures to stimulate business investment and encourage employment – proposes further opportunity through digital adoption incentives and progressive mandating of eInvoicing
  • MYOB, a leading provider of business management tools to more than 1.2 million businesses, has praised the Federal Government for its focus on small business recovery and growth in the 2020 Budget.

    Following the Federal Budget announcements, MYOB says focus on business investment in SME-centric measures such as the tax loss carry-back and personal tax income cuts will be welcome news to SMEs.

    Speaking about the Budget, CEO Greg Ellis said, “This Budget charts a course back to economic prosperity for Australia. There is a good mix of spending and tax measures, which when combined are critical to rebuilding business confidence, and in turn stimulating investment and growth.

    “The initiatives outlined are designed to deliver strategies to energise the SME sector by driving demand and injecting spending back into the economy. These are key strategies for our pathway out of recession.

    “Much of this spending will benefit small businesses, be it through direct employment driven by infrastructure spending, wage subsidy programs, or via the accelerated personal income tax cuts which will stimulate discretionary household spending,” said Mr Ellis.

    “Our recent survey of 1000 Australians found 8 in 10 wanted to see SMEs a priority in the Budget. Tonight’s revealed measures demonstrate Federal Government has been listening and has taken positive steps toward reinvigorating Australia’s economy.”

    In the Budget, MYOB calls out core themes as wins for Australian SMEs:

    Investment in digitisation

    • The previously announced $800m Digital Business Plan to simplify the regulatory environment, cutting more red tape and mandating Commonwealth e-invoicing
    • The enhancements to the R&D Tax Incentive program

    Investment in SME recovery and growth

    • Major update and extension to the Instant Asset Write Off
    • The tax loss carry-back benefits for small businesses

    Setting the economy up for SME success

    • The acceleration and backdating of personal income tax cuts
    • Previously announced support for manufacturing and other sectors, to give Australia a longer-term competitive advantage and creation of many thousands of jobs

    “While the previously announced $800m investment Federal Government is making to support SME digital adoption will allow for necessary changes to the way small businesses start successfully, we have called on Government to consider taking the mandating of eInvoicing a step further. Mandating B2B eInvoicing by industry will assist the smooth adoption of digital transactions and address cashflow as a number one concern for SMEs – of critical importance in this recovery phase,” said Mr Ellis.

    “We also propose that a tax incentive to enter the digital ecosystem would help SMEs overcome barriers to adoption and allow them to concentrate on the benefits afforded by digitisation. This could take the form of an extension for Instant Asset Write Off for software solutions.”

    In September, MYOB released a special Budget Edition of MYOB Business Monitor which surveyed more than 1,000 Australian SMEs. Today’s announcement delivers on four of the six top measures SMEs hoped to see reflected in the Budget:

    • A lowering of the company tax rate (31%)
    • Cutting of red tape / removal of bureaucratic processes (26%)
    • More support for training and apprentices (24%)
    • Subsidies for businesses employing young Australians looking for work (22%)
    • Conversion of the instant asset tax write-off to a permanent policy (20%)
    • More flexible industrial relations system (18%)

    “The measures outlined in the Budget tonight will give small business owners the confidence they need to invest back into their businesses and the clarity they need to plan for the future. Critically, the models put in place, particularly those intended to drive digital engagement, will support SMEs in their business understanding, resilience and cashflow after this significant period of turmoil.

    “SME survival and success are economic imperatives for Australia. Future job creation does not sit with the largest companies. We must continue to recognise the invaluable role SMEs play in our economic recovery and provide them with the conditions to flourish.

    “We commend the Government for their continued support for small business as evidenced in this Budget. Australia will forge a way to growth if the SME economy can return to good health,” said MYOB CEO Greg Ellis.

    /Public Release.