“The reality of where the economy is at”: With tax collection down, budget forecasts are only going to get worse
Even if the government hadn’t spent $5.9 billion on JobKeeper and other emergency measures last financial year, its budget position would have collapsed.
“Domino effect”: Businesses warned about contractor arrangements in wake of unfair dismissal case
A recent Fair Work Commission case serves as a timely reminder about the possible dangers of poorly defined independent contractor relationships.
“A fair bit of shit”: Government opens employee share scheme consultation, to lukewarm reception
Between the budget and the 'abhorrent content' debacle, last week the government quietly opened its consultation into employee share schemes for startups.
Instant asset write-off passes in post-budget Senate blitz
Measures to extend and enhance the instant asset write-off have passed the Senate in a post-budget voting blitz that saw 28 bills passed yesterday.
Startups wanted more: SMEs welcome budget tax relief but say innovation support is lacking
Small businesses have welcomed the coalition's tax relief pitch, but startups say the federal budget lacked support for innovation.
Budget 2019: Government flags expanded single touch payroll regime to aid welfare crackdown
The government has proposed expanding the STP reporting regime to enable more data to be collected for use by the tax office.
Budget 2019: Millions for Fair Work Ombudsman sham contracting crackdown squad
The coalition wants to crack down on sham contracting and has proposed giving the Fair Work Ombudsman an extra $9.2 million over four years.
Budget 2019: Billions for STEM commercialisation, but only one mention of “startup”
The government has committed an extra $1.2 billion to Australia’s Medical Research Investment Plan to support STEM commercialisation projects.
Budget 2019: Instant asset write-off boosted to $30,000, set to save small business $700 million
The government has proposed a boost to the instant asset write-off which would increase the threshold and give medium-sized firms access to the scheme.
Budget 2019: $61 million for SME exports but no action on onerous grant process
The government is looking to back SMEs exporting overseas, proposing $61 million over three years to help businesses get the word out about their products.
Budget 2019: Government proposes income tax red tape for ABN holders
The government has proposed adding red tape to the ABN system to safeguard it against black economy behaviour and make holders “more accountable”.
Budget 2019: Government wants to double business incentives in bid to create 80,000 apprentices
Incentive payments for businesses looking to employ apprentices would double to $8,000 per placement under a $525 million government proposal.
