Month: October 2020

Upskilling Australia

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The Budget highlights the government’s commitment to getting people back in jobs and upskilling Australians.

The JobTrainer Fund which falls under the JobMaker Plan will support up to 340,700 free or low-fee training places in areas needed to help upskill and retrain job seekers and young people.

The government will provide exemptions for employer-provided retraining activities from business’ fringe benefits tax and is also consulting on updating the current rules to allow individuals to deduct training costs from their income which relates to their future employment.

The Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements Wage Subsidy will boost the number of new apprenticeships and traineeships. This will support up to 100,000 new apprentices and trainees by paying a 50 per cent wage subsidy. Businesses will receive the subsidy up to a cap of $7,000 per quarter, for commencing apprentices and trainees until 30 September 2021.

Economic security for women is also being prioritised under the Budget. Several initiatives will work to support the increase of women’s workforce participation and improvement of earning potential. They include initiatives to support women’s leadership and development and increasing opportunities for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), business and male-dominated industries.

Lower taxes for businesses and individuals

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The Budget seeks to promote tax reform and simplification in an effort to support business investment and help reduce the personal income tax burden.

Business

Businesses are encouraged to invest with the introduction of temporary full expensing. Businesses with turnover up to $5 billion will be able to deduct the full cost of eligible depreciable assets of any value in the first year they are used or installed ready for use, from now till end of June 2022. Costs of improvements to these eligible depreciable assets can also be deducted. Through the reduction of after-tax costs of eligible expenses, full expensing supports businesses that are investing and helping stimulate the economy. Eligible new or second-hand assets acquired under the enhanced $150,000 instant asset write-off by the end of this year will receive an additional 6 months (30th June 2021) to use or install those assets.

Temporary loss carry-back will provide businesses the opportunity to offset tax losses. Companies with a turnover of up to $5 billion will be able to offset tax losses against previous profits on which tax has been paid to generate a refund. Any losses incurred from 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 may be carried back against profits made during, or after 2018-19. To receive this support, applications to receive a tax refund may be lodged during the 2020-21 or 2021-22 tax returns.

Measures have been taken to expand and modernise the tax treaty network. This involves eliminating double taxation in an effort to attract foreign workers, simplify taxing rights between Australia and other countries and boost foreign investment in Australia. The initiative reduces tax barriers to prioritise reinstating Australia’s treaties with important partners to relieve economic burden. The Research and Development Tax Incentive (R&DTI) will ensure businesses of every size are receiving the support they require in these areas.

Changes have been made to recordkeeping provision as the government maintains its efforts to cut down red tape. Businesses will no longer need complete prescribed records, instead they will be able to use existing corporate records to reduce the time and manpower spent on recordkeeping.

Individuals

Both low and middle income earners will also be receiving tax relief in the coming years. The government has brought forward their plans for tax cuts to make sure that families are keeping more of what they earn. Taxpayers will be receiving relief of up to $2.745 for singles and $5,490 for dual income families. The provision of a simpler tax system and lower taxes, which will be implemented in 3 stages, has increased the threshold of the 32.5% tax bracket from $90,000 to $120,000. Tax relief to individuals is expected to encourage spending and stimulate the economy.

Long term tax-effective Investments

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Determining where to invest requires multiple factors to be taken into consideration. One such factor may be tax efficiency. The tax charged on income from a tax-effective investment is less than the individual’s marginal tax rate.

Superannuation

The government provides incentives to save through Super, which make it one of the most tax-effective investments. Contributing to your super and salary sacrifice is only taxed at 15% if yearly income is under $250,000 (30% if over $250,000 which is still tax-effective). The maximum tax that can be charged on investment income in super is 15%, and 10% on capital gains. This is lower than marginal rates at which taxation occurs for most individuals.

Employees should ensure that contributions are not above $25,000, as this is the cap on concessional contributions. Additional tax needs to be paid on any amount claimed higher than the cap.

Insurance Bonds

Insurance companies offer insurance bonds as long term investment options. Earnings in an investment bond are taxed at 30% (Corporate tax rate), which makes them tax-effective for those whose marginal tax rate is above 30%. They are further tax-effective if one is looking to invest for over 10 years. This is because although withdrawals can be made during the 10 years, if no withdrawals are made, no further tax is payable.

The ATO warns against tax-driven schemes, which offer tax concessions for investing in certain assets that provide income in the future as these may be high risk or part of a scam. Investing in superannuation or insurance bonds are safe and reliable methods which don’t pose these concerns.

Salary Sacrificing for your Super

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One of the most effective ways to add to your super balance is through salary sacrifice. Salary sacrifice involves the employee agreeing to exchange a portion of their salary (before tax) for an increase in superannuation contribution by their employer.

Contributions made through salary sacrifice are classified as employer contributions, not employee contributions. These are taxed at a maximum of 15% (if you earn under $250,000 per year) which is lower than the marginal tax rate most employees are charged. The amount that you ‘sacrifice’ cannot be assessed for taxation purposes i.e. it is not subject to PAYG. Employees should ensure that their contributions per year are not above $25,000 as this is the cap on concessional contributions and if surpassed, will require additional tax to be paid.

Salary sacrifice is an effective way to minimise tax liability and increase super contributions if individuals are earning a greater amount than they require for annual expenses.

After beginning the salary sacrificing process, employees should keep a lookout for two important matters. First, the calculation of ordinary time earnings by your employer that super applies to, does not change. Second, the amount which is paid to your super through the salary sacrifice agreement does not contribute towards any super guarantee contributions that are required of your employer. Employees should verify that neither of these occur, and verify any confusion with their employer.

Salary sacrifice is a trade-off between income earned in the present, and contributions made for the future. Employees may experience difficulty in finding a balance which suits them or taking different aspects of their finances into consideration for the agreement with their employer. Asking for professional assistance to determine specifications for the agreement could help simplify this procedure.

Tips to upscale your business

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Set realistic and actionable goals

Businesses should set realistic and actionable small goals which they can work towards, rather broad goals which provide no direction. Setting broad and unrealistic goals is demotivating and makes any progress made seem insignificant. Every person in the business should be given a target to meet over a reasonable timeline which contributes towards achieving a larger goal.

Establishing standardised and automated processes

Small businesses can make the mistake of ‘doing things as they come’ but this means that as business grows, adjusting to high scale tasks is difficult. To avoid this, business should standardise all processes of work. Any individual placed into a role should be able to follow standardised procedure and yield a product which is of similar quality to the previous one. Investing money into automation tools is worthwhile for this procedure. This can include automating management of social media, email, and customer relationships. Both of these will contribute to creating structures which support growth.

Identify competitive strengths and weaknesses

Recognising the strengths and weaknesses of one’s business is essential. Strengths will allow businesses to hone in on unique qualities they possess which give them a competitive advantage. Weaknesses will reveal which areas require growth so that changes can be made before upscaling takes place.

Network

Businesses should continue to develop relationships with service providers, sales channel partners, suppliers and customers. Keeping an open mind about partnerships or potential collaborations could open up different avenues of business growth.

Building a social media strategy

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The right social media strategy can boost customer interaction and improve customer relationships. A social media strategy will help plan out the type of content that needs to be made, when it needs to be posted, and which platforms are best suitable for your business.

  1. What are your social media goals: What do you wish to achieve from your social media presence? Goals should be specific and measurable i.e. if your goal is to grow brand awareness, you can measure this by the amount of followers gained per week.
  2. Who is your target audience: Identify the age group that you are marketing your brand towards. This will be helpful to select the social media channel you focus on and you can create content which that group will interact with the most i.e. if your target audience is young adults, you might choose Instagram as your main channel, and create content that references different trends in social media.
  3. Which metric is most important to you: The number of likes for a post might not be relevant to your business, because this does not reflect the number of people who are utilising your business. Your metric might be the number of people that visit your website through social media, so you customise your social media promotions to show your website first.
  4. What is your social media timeline: Establishing a firm timeline for social media posts beforehand is extremely important. It allows you to create awareness and excitement about a new product or service before release. Ensure that your content is ready to go in advance so that you can stick to timelines.

All of these factors will determine your brand’s online presence, the visual content and how you interact with customers online. Make sure you think about these factors beforehand.

Which bad money habits could be getting in your way

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How you spend your money determines how well you can save you money. Spending more than you have or buying unnecessarily can severely impact how efficiently you can save. Sometimes you aren’t even aware of the small habits that are actually limiting your savings capabilities. Here are a few bad money habits that are getting in your way.

Not having a budget:

Spending a substantial amount of money each month on purchases and experiences adds up. Not preparing and sticking to a budget is a common mistake, as many people believe that a budget isn’t necessary for their lifestyle and income. Regardless of how much you earn, individuals need budgets to know where their money goes and what needs to be set aside to achieve their goals.

Eating Out:

Dining in restaurants or grabbing take away most nights in the week is a good way to deplete your finances. Save money by eating out one or two nights and cooking the rest of your meals in bulk at home. Preparation of food will help on those nights when you don’t want to cook and stops you from ordering food.

Impulse Buying:

Purchasing items without a second thought is an easy way to lose money. A good way to avoid this can be to ask yourself if you are buying something because you ‘want’ it, rather than if you ‘need’ it? Learn how to recognise when you do the action and force yourself to wait. You can then consider if you have the extra money to spend on that item, giving you time to properly think about your decision.

Credit Cards:

A credit card is an easy way to spend money you may not have. Living beyond your means is a fast way to fall into debt and is one of the worst things you can do for your finances. Remember, if you don’t pay the card in full each month, every dollar you put on a card will cost you many times more in interest charges. Avoid this problem by thinking of your credit card as an emergency-only option.