Posted May 19, 2021
While Federal Budget Night isn’t usually high on the calendar for most business owners, in the wake of Covid-19 the Federal Budget looms higher and higher in importance. The last few budgets have announced significant measures, like JobKeeper, which have helped keep many businesses open during the pandemic and so the team at HABA were keen to see what was next for salon owners in the 2021 budget.
“From an industry perspective, the Government’s second budget in a year locks in the recovery from recession and shifts gears from emergency measures to investing in the economy for the longer term,” Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association Ai Group said.
THE TOP BENEFITS FOR SALON OWNERS:
- Extended Boosting Apprenticeships Commencements program
- Easier, faster and cheaper disputes with the ATO through the Administrative Appeal Tribunal (AAT)
- $16 billion in tax cuts across small to medium businesses.
- Extended Instant investment write off
Training + Education
The budget showed a priority on training and education across the board, which supports salon owners in bringing through the next crop of talented and passionate hair and beauty professionals. HABA believes that this should be done in conjunction with measures to ease open the tap for permanent or temporary skilled migrants.
The budget contains an additional $2.7 billion to extend the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements program. Treasury expects the program to support more than 170,000 new apprentices and trainees by paying businesses a 50 per cent wage subsidy over 12 months for newly commencing apprentices or trainees signed up by March 31, 2022, capped at $7,000 per quarter per apprentice or trainee.
The government is also pledging an additional $500 million, to be matched by state and territory governments, to expand the JobTrainer Fund by a further 163,000 places and extend the program until the end of next year.
“In this budget, we double our commitment to the JobTrainer Fund, supporting a total of more than 450,000 new training places to upskill job seekers and young people,” the Treasurer said in his budget speech.
Administrative Appeal Tribunal
As reported earlier this month, Mr Frydenberg declared the Administrative Appeal Tribunal (AAT) now has the ability to pause of modify ATO debt recovery actions while a small business is in a dispute in a move the government hopes will make things “easier, faster and cheaper” for SMEs.
“This will provide an avenue for small businesses to ensure they are not required to start paying a disputed debt until the matter has been determined by the AAT,” Mr Frydenberg reiterated.
Tax Cuts
Further, Mr Frydenberg said the government will deliver more than $16 billion in tax cuts to small and medium businesses by 2023 – 24 with around $1.5 billion flowing in 2019 ‑ 20. This, he said, “includes reducing the tax rate for small and medium companies, from 30 per cent in 2014 ‑ 15 to 25 per cent from 1 July 2021”.
“Small and family businesses are the engine room of our economy; they are at the heart of every local community.
“As they strive to recover, we need the tax system to work for them, not against them. So tonight, we provide small business with peace of mind that an independent umpire will stand between them and the ATO when it comes to debt recovery actions.
“We will take these disputes out of the courts and let small business get on with what they do best. Under the Coalition, small business will always be stronger.”
Extending the Instant Investment Write Off
As part of its commitment to create jobs, Mr Frydenberg announced the government would be extending temporary full expensing and temporary loss carry-back for an additional year until 30 June 2023. This will see an additional $20.7 billion in tax relief to businesses over the forward estimates period.
“Combined, the extension of these two measures is estimated to deliver an additional $20.7 billion in tax relief to businesses over the forward estimates period. An estimated $320 billion worth of investment is expected to be supported by these incentives,” the Treasurer said.
“The temporary full expensing and temporary loss carry-back measures are estimated to boost GDP by around $2.5 billion in 2020 ‑ 21, $7.5 billion in 2021 ‑ 22, and $8 billion in 2022 ‑ 23, and create around 60,000 jobs by the end of 2022 ‑ 23.”
“The budget anticipates a period of steady expansion and strong employment growth without creating undue inflation and overall wages pressure. The outlook for business investment is expected to take some time to recover with most of the increase anticipated in the Budget held over until 2022-23.
Overall, there are lots of positive notes for salon owners to take out of the Australian Budget Announcement for 2021. While individual measures might appear to be modest, it’s really when all the measures cumulate that they will have the greatest impact for salon owners.
It is vitally important that salon owners stay informed and keep the Government accountable for legislation and changes that have an impact on your business. HABA will continue to be your partner in pushing for changes to benefit salon owners at all levels of Government and in keeping you informed as these changes occur. That’s why it pays to be a HABA member.
If you’re not already a HABA Member, you can join here or by calling the office on (02) 9221 9911.
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