Small business entities (companies, trusts, partnerships or sole traders with total turnover of less than $10 million) will qualify for a raft of tax concessions in the 2018 income tax year:
- the $20,000 instant asset write-off – an immediate deduction when buying and installing depreciating assets that cost less than $20,000.
- the simplified depreciation rules – accelerated depreciation rates of 15% or 30% for depreciable assets that cost $20,000 or more;
- the small business restructure rollover;
- an immediate deduction for start-up costs;
- an immediate deduction for certain prepaid expenses;
- the simplified trading stock rules – removing the need to do an end-of-year stocktake if stock value has changed by less than $5,000;
- the simplified PAYG rules – the ATO will calculate PAYG instalments;
- cash basis accounting for GST – the ATO will calculate the GST instalment payable and annual apportionment for input tax credits for acquisitions that are partly creditable;
- the FBT car parking exemption (from 1 April 2017); and
- the ability for employees to salary-sacrifice two identical portable electronic devices (from 1 April 2016).
These concessions are very powerful for small businesses, and can lead to substantial tax savings.