notch above bookkeeping

Practical Positivity

/in , /by

Stay safe. Do what you can with what you have. Control what’s in your control.

A framework to help business owners to see their situation through a different lens and move upward.

Help as many people as you can through this period with any spare resources you have, whether that’s time, money or love.

This will not last forever, nor for very long and we will get through this… together… and be stronger on the other side.

  1. MELTDOWN. If you need to have a meltdown, do it. Negative emotions will never go away, only fester. Don’t be ashamed to have a cry and a bit of a panic.
  2. ESTABLISH A BETTER VISION OF THE FUTURE. You and your clients have possibly got quite a negative vision of what’s to come. Armageddon, recession, etc. This needs to change. Start to vision the other side.
  3. SCENARIO PLANNING. Produce a cash flow forecast for the next 3 months. Imagine the worst scenario in terms of sales, then plan for it. Maybe you get no revenue for the next three months? The reality will be much better, but plan for it anyway. This will be a dip. It won’t last forever.
  4. CUT BACK. Cut on any costs that are maybe excessive. You need to be careful with this bit. Don’t strip back operations completely, only those that seem excessive. I don’t mean staff here AT ALL if it can be helped.
  5. GALVANISE YOUR TEAM. Communicate your better vision of the future. They are on this mission with you. They have probably had the same panics that you’ve had. Explain that you’re going to get through this together. The reason we’re cutting back (in the step above) is to preserve your team.
  6. BUILD BACK INTO THE FOUNDATIONS. This is where we look at things you may have been neglecting. Systems, processes, getting your pricing right, marketing. Whatever it is you need to do, build back into these key systems. Some of the peripheral things (maybe small jobs on your to-do list), they aren’t important in times like now. Work on the fundamentals.
  7. SET UP AS A LEADER. This is your time. If your team are working from home, get them fired up, have daily calls, keep everyone positive.
  8. EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES. What opportunities do you have now to give value to your clients or customers? For your clients, this could be digitisation of your product. It could be new products, new markets.
  9. MARKETING. Don’t be aggressive with selling. Start to build relationships. Be there for your community and the clients or customers that you serve. Invest in long term nurturing processes.

Final Thoughts

These are times when we need to stay calm and rely on reliable news sources and information from State and Australian Government websites. What you see on social media may be panicky and unreliable information – stay away from this!

There are still deadlines we will need to meet for you so that you can receive the Government Stimulus Package amounts that you are entitled to.

Got any questions? Just contact us for further clarification on the new subsidy on 1300 015 130.


Back to more coronavirus updates

Source James Ashford
team meeting

Coronavirus Jobkeeper Payment

/in , /by

Federal Government offers $130b in coronavirus wage subsidies for businesses to pay workers

The Government has announced a $130 billion JobKeeper payment to help keep more Australians in jobs and support businesses affected by the significant economic impact caused by the Coronavirus.

Around 6 million workers will receive a fortnightly payment of $1,500 (before tax) through their employer. The payment ensures eligible employers remain connected to their workforce and will help businesses restart quickly when the crisis is over.

Information for employers

If your business has been significantly impacted by the Coronavirus you will be able to access a wages subsidy to continue paying your employees. Under the JobKeeper program, you will be able to claim a fortnightly payment of $1,500 per eligible employee from 30 March 2020, for a maximum of six months. This assistance will help you keep staff and will help you restart when the crisis is over.

To register your interest, please visit the Australian Taxation Office: https://www.ato.gov.au/general/gen/JobKeeper-payment/?=redirected_JobKeeper

What employers will need to do is reach out to their banks knowing that they will have this confirmed money flow coming from tax office, namely from the Government, and then that will give them the ability to pay their employees. 

Information for employees

The JobKeeper payment helps businesses significantly impacted by the Coronavirus cover the costs of their employees’ wages, so more Australians can retain their jobs and continue to earn an income. Your employer will notify you if they intend to claim the fortnightly payment of $1,500 on your behalf.

Got any questions? Just contact us for further clarification on the new subsidy on 1300 015 130.

Back to more coronavirus updates
Source: JobKeeper payment | Treasury.gov.au (2020). Available at: https://treasury.gov.au/coronavirus/jobkeeper (Accessed: 30 March 2020).
cafe counter front of house

Coronavirus cash flow assistance for business

/in , /by

Boosting cash flow for Employers

Up to a $25,000 tax-free payment to small and medium-sized businesses that employ workers, between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2020. These eligible businesses will receive a payment equal to 50% of their PAYG withheld,delivered as a credit in their BAS from March to June 2020, with a minimum $2,000 payment and up to a cap of $25,000

We will ensure these cash incentives are included in your business BAS returns when lodged with the tax office.

Administrative concessions

Other concessions announced to assist businesses impacted by COVID-19 include:

  • Deferring by up to 4 months the payment of tax amounts due through the BAS (including PAYG instalments), income tax assessments, FBT assessments and excise by affected businesses;
  • Allowing affected businesses on a quarterly reporting cycle to opt into monthly GST reporting to get quicker access to any GST refunds;
  • Allowing affected businesses to vary 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;
  • Remitting any interest and penalties, incurred by affected businesses on or after 23 January 2020, that have been applied to tax liabilities; and
  • Allowing affected businesses to enter into low-interest payment plans for their existing and ongoing tax liabilities

We will consider all these concessions in the relevant BAS periods when preparing your returns and discuss with you, as needed, how they can assist your individual situation.

Please note these are being introduced to parliament next week and expected to be passed as legislation.

Got any questions? Just contact us for further clarification on the new measures on 1300 015 130.

Related reading

https://notchabove.com.au/economic-stimulus-package/

Economic Stimulus Package

/in , /by

Coronavirus Economic Stimulus Package

The Government has announced a $17.6 billion economic plan to keep Australians in jobs, keep businesses in business and support households and the economy as the world deals with the significant challenges posed by the spread of the coronavirus.

The targeted stimulus package is focused on keeping Australians in jobs and helping small and medium-sized businesses to stay in business.

The package has four parts:

  1. Supporting business investment
  2. Providing cash flow assistance to help small and medium-sized business to stay in business and keep their employees in jobs
  3. Targeted support for the most severely affected sectors, regions and communities
  4. Household stimulus payments that will benefit the wider economy

Delivering support for business investment

  • $700 million to increase the instant asset write off threshold from $30,000 to $150,000 and expand access to include businesses with aggregated annual turnover of less than $500 million (up from $50 million) until 30 June 2020. For example, assets that may be able to be immediately written off are a concrete tank for a builder, a tractor for a farming business, and a truck for a delivery business.
  • $3.2 billion to back business investment by providing a time-limited 15-month investment incentive (through to 30 June 2021) to support business investment and economic growth over the short term, by accelerating depreciation deductions. Businesses with a turnover of less than $500 million will be able to deduct an additional 50 per cent of the asset cost in the year of purchase.

These measures start today and will support over 3.5 million businesses (over 99 per cent of businesses) employing more than 9.7 million employees or 3 in every 4 workers. The measures are designed to support business sticking with investment they had planned, and encouraging them to bring investment forward to support economic growth over the short term.

Cash flow assistance for businesses

  • $6.7 billion to Boost Cash Flow for Employers by up to $25,000 with a minimum payment of $2,000 for eligible small and medium-sized businesses. The payment will provide cash flow support to businesses with a turnover of less than $50 million that employ staff, between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2020. The payment will be tax-free. This measure will benefit around 690,000 businesses employing around 7.8 million people. Businesses will receive payments of 50 per cent of their Business Activity Statements or Instalment Activity Statement from 28 April with refunds to then be paid within 14 days.
  • $1.3 billion to support small businesses to support the jobs of around 120,000 apprentices and trainees. Eligible employers can apply for a wage subsidy of 50 per cent of the apprentice’s or trainee’s wage for up to 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 that employs that apprentice.

Stimulus payments to households to support growth

  • $4.8 billion to provide a one-off $750 stimulus payment to pensioners, social security, veteran and other income support recipients and eligible concession cardholders. Around half of those that will benefit are pensioners. The payment will be tax-free and will not count as income for Social Security, Farm Household Allowance and Veteran payments. There will be one payment per eligible recipient. If a person qualifies for the one off payment in multiple ways, they will only receive one payment.

Payments will be from 31 March 2020 on a progressive basis, with over 90 per cent of payments expected to be made by mid-April.

Assistance for severely-affected regions

  • $1 billion to support those sectors, regions and communities that have been disproportionately affected by the economic impacts of the Coronavirus, including those heavily reliant on industries such as tourism, agriculture and education. This will include the waiver of fees and charges for tourism businesses that operate in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Commonwealth National Parks. It will also include additional assistance to help businesses identify alternative export markets or supply chains. Targeted measures will also be developed to further promote domestic tourism. Further plans and measures to support recovery will be designed and delivered in partnership with the affected industries and communities.

The Government is also offering administrative relief for certain tax obligations, including deferring tax payments up to four months. This is similar to relief provided following the bushfires for taxpayers affected by the coronavirus, on a case-by-case basis. In addition, the ATO will consider ways to enhance its presence in other significantly affected regions to make it easier for people to apply for relief, including considering further temporary shop fronts and face-to-face options.

The Government’s economic support package is proportionate, timely and scalable to respond to the economic challenges presented by the spread of the coronavirus.

Source: Economic Stimulus Package | Treasury Ministers (2020). Available at: https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/josh-frydenberg-2018/media-releases/economic-stimulus-package (Accessed: 13 March 2020).

Support measures to assist those affected by COVID-19

/in , /by

Options available to assist businesses impacted by COVID-19

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will implement a series of administrative measures to assist Australians experiencing financial difficulty as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Commissioner of Taxation Chris Jordan is encouraging businesses impacted by the coronavirus to get in touch with the ATO to discuss relief options.

“We know that many businesses and communities are being heavily affected by the challenging economic conditions created by the outbreak of COVID-19,” he said.

“The ATO will work shoulder-to-shoulder with businesses to assist them through this difficult period and do what we can to ease the pressure.

“Once you contact us, we’ll tailor a support plan for your needs and circumstances.”

“Support measures could include deferral of some payments, quicker access to GST refunds, and options to enter low-interest payment plans for existing or future tax debts.”

We understand this is a time of significant uncertainty and that we will need to be flexible in how we help businesses.

Options available to assist businesses impacted by COVID-19 include:

  • Deferring by up to four 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. 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
  • 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.

Employers will still need to meet their ongoing super guarantee obligations for their employees.

To make it easier for people to apply for relief we will be increasing our presence in the areas of highest impact. A temporary shopfront with staff specialising in assisting small business will be established in Cairns within the next few weeks. In addition, we will consider ways to enhance our presence in other significantly affected regions, making it easier for people to apply for relief. Additional temporary shopfronts and face-to-face options are currently under consideration.

We will also continue to work with the tax profession, other government agencies and local organisations to make sure other impacted communities are also supported during this time. We will ensure our services are tailored to the needs of the community and will work with taxpayers and their tax agents to tailor support to their individual circumstances.

Outside of business, the ATO will also work with individuals experiencing financial hardship, and their tax agents, and will apply appropriate tax relief measures for serious and exceptional circumstances, such as where people cannot pay for food or accommodation.

Unlike the bushfire relief measures, which applied automatically to particular geographic areas, assistance measures for those impacted by COVID-19 will not be automatically implemented.

Anyone impacted by COVID-19 is advised to contact the ATO to request assistance on our Emergency Support Infoline 1800 806 218, when they are ready, to discuss their situation.

Source ATO