Important March Updates
Received a support grant?
You may have received a business support grant recently to help your business through tough times. Remember, when it comes to tax time, it's important to check if you need to include the payment in your assessable income.
Grants are generally treated as assessable income. However, some grants are formally declared non-assessable non-exempt (NANE) income. This means you don’t need to include these in your tax return if you meet certain eligibility requirements.
You can check what non-assessable non-exempt government grants may be excluded from your tax return. Follow the link to continue reading from the ATO.
Further eligibility age change for downsizer contributions
From 1 January 2023, eligible individuals aged 55 years or older can choose to make a downsizer contribution into their super fund of up to $300,000 per person ($600,000 per couple) from the proceeds of selling their home. There are no changes to the remaining eligibility criteria.
For more information on key dates and eligibility, visit the ATO website.
Fringe Tax Benefits (FBT) exemptions
In an article from the ATO Small Business Newsroom, is it discussed that as an employer, you previously needed to pay FBT on electric cars provided to your employees. However, from 1 July 2022, you are now exempt from paying FBT on benefits provided for electric cars that meet all the following criteria:
the car is a zero or low emissions vehicle
the first time the car is both held and used is on or after 1 July 2022
the car is used by a current employee or their associates (such as family members)
luxury car tax has never been payable on the importation or sale of the car.
Registration, insurance, repairs, maintenance and fuel expenses provided for eligible electric cars are also exempt from FBT.
Note that despite the exemption, you’ll still need to determine the taxable value of the benefits provided, and include it in your employee's reportable fringe benefits amount (RFBA).
You need to report the RFBA on your employee’s income statement or payment summary.
Changes to home office claims
The ATO has released updated rules around the claiming and keeping of documented hours to support home office costs.
Fuel tax credit rates increased
Fuel tax credit rates increased on 1 February 2023. The easiest way to apply the correct rate is to use the fuel tax credit calculator on the ATO website every time you make a claim on your BAS.
You can also use the ATO's simplified method if you claim less than $10,000 a year in fuel tax credits.
Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scam
An extremely common fraud occurring in recent times is Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scams. A BEC scam typically occurs when an email address (either a supplier's or employees) is compromised and the fraudster impersonates the business or individual in order to lure a fraudulent payment being made.
The scam can look exactly like an email you would normally receive. With current technologies and increased sophistication, fake invoices and websites are becoming harder to detect, even to the trained eye. An example of a BEC Scam could follow the following format:
Criminals compromise a supplier’s email account and through it have access to legitimate invoices and your business contact details. The criminals manipulate an invoice by editing contact and bank details on those invoices and sending them to you with the compromised email account. Your accounts department subsequently pay the invoice, thinking they are paying the vendor, but instead send that money to criminals’ bank accounts.
Frauds in this manner are on the rise and once occurred it is extremely difficult to recover any lost funds. Good business practices can provided an added level of protection in an attempt to prevent these scams and could include:
Train and inform staff (in particular the finance team) in regards to current scams and being diligent and aware in everyday practices.
Verify supplier change in bank details via phone call (using a number from external records not details within an email)
Dual authorisations on all electronic payments
Encourage staff to think critically before actioning unusual requests (ie. urgent payment requests, incorrect spelling or grammar within emails, an email address that doesn’t look quite right)
Using multi-factor authentication and strong passwords for system logins
Spam filters on email servers
Please note the above are general controls and not guaranteed to prevent or detect any scams occurring. To discuss a detailed review of your business’s financial internal controls, please contact David Rosetta at drosetta@bushcampbell.com.au
We will never change our bank accounts without providing prior notice to you. If you receive any correspondence announcing a change in bank details, please contact us and verify our banking details before you pay our account.
Energy Efficiency Grants for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises - Round 1
This program launches on Monday, 6th March and is an opportunity for SME’s companies, partnerships and sole traders with less than 199 staff to apply to upgrade to purchase energy efficiency equipment, conduct energy audits and reduce costs.
The minimum grant is $10,000 – maximum grant $25,000 – with no funding contribution required (100% grant funding).
The Energy Efficiency Grants for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Round 1 will support businesses to upgrade or replace inefficient equipment to improve their energy efficiency. These upgrades will enable industries to reduce their energy use and manage energy cost volatility in the long term. This will contribute to Australia’s target of a 43% reduction on 2005 emission levels by 2030.
The objectives of the program are to:
improve energy efficiency practices and increase the uptake of energy efficient technologies
assist small and medium businesses to manage their energy usage and costs
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The intended outcomes of the program are:
increased awareness of energy efficiency opportunities and help businesses to save energy
reduced power bills for small and medium businesses
emissions abatement to contribute to Australia reducing its emissions to 43% below 2005 levels by 2030.
Projects can include:
an energy audit of your site or part of your site
the design, and installation of energy efficiency equipment include any necessary wiring or other electrical work
measuring, monitoring and recording energy usage
the commissioning or tuning or equipment installed.
You can use the grant funding for:
Purchase of equipment to replace existing equipment, where the new equipment is higher energy efficiency
Costs to decommission, remove and dispose of the old equipment that is replaced
Purchase of equipment or components to help an existing system run more efficiently in regard to energy
Building permits or approval costs to install equipment, where required
The cost of suppliers, consultants and contracted labour undertaking eligible project activities.
Grant funding will be distributed between states and territories based on the distribution of small and medium sized businesses nationally. You are encouraged to refer to Appendix A in the grant opportunity guidelines for a breakdown of funding in each jurisdiction.
There may be a high level of interest for this grant opportunity, and it may be oversubscribed. This is a demand driven grant opportunity. Grants will be awarded to eligible applicants on a first come, first served basis until the funding is exhausted in each jurisdiction.
For more information, including the guidelines, sample application for and to apply, visit the Business Australia website.
Image: Bush & Campbell Directors, David Rosetta, Rebecca Nicoll, Daniel Uden, Mathew Smith, Sharon Ferguson, Amanda Powell and Peter King
We’re here to help!
If you have any questions or concerns, or would like further information about these articles, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our team of Bush & Campbell experts.