The government may have changed at the May 2022 federal election, but the March 2022 budget is still in effect. That’s good news for small and medium-sized businesses as the Small Business Technology Investment Boost (SBTIB) remains in place.
What is the Small Business Technology Investment Boost?
The SBTIB allows businesses with annual revenues of $50 million or less to claim an additional 20% of the cost of depreciating assets and expenses to support cloud-based business transformations. That means you can claim up to 120% of such costs, so updating your website, investing in a mobile workforce and adopting remote workflows are more cost-effective than ever.
And let’s face it, it’s time. According to the ATO, through the COVID-19 pandemic, online sales in Australia increased by some $200 million.
Eligible items include cloud services and subscriptions, security systems, and portable payment devices.
To qualify for the Boost, a business must meet the following conditions:
- Be a registered business with an ABN
- Have annual revenue of $50 million or less
- Use the bonus to purchase eligible expenditures
The Boost is in effect now and applies for the entire 2023 financial year (i.e. until 30 June 2023). Used correctly, it can help businesses become more resilient, improve security, streamline operations and explore new opportunities and markets.
Other budget measures for small businesses
The federal budget also contained additional measures to help small businesses, which were generally well-received.
As KPMG Australia’s National Tax Leader Clive Bird noted, it was “an encouraging budget for the mid-market sector, Australia’s engine room, with no new taxes but targeted measures aimed at innovation and growth and skills training for Australia’s workforce.”
Among other measures, the budget:
- Reduced the GDP uplift rate for 2022–23, delivering $1.85 billion in cash flow support for 2.3 million taxpayers, including small businesses.
- Introduced rules to allow businesses with annual turnover or total income less than $5 billion to instantly write‑off assets to strengthen business investment and create more jobs, and extended them to 30 June 2023.
- Enabled companies with an annual turnover of less than $5 billion to offset losses against previously taxed profits to generate a refund and extended it to include the 2022–23 income year
Eagle360 is here to help
If you haven’t already, now is an excellent time to check with your accountant and assess whether you can claim any assets or expenditures. And, of course, get in touch with us today if you’d like to discuss your cloud strategy.
Whatever type of business you run, and regardless of whether you’re just looking at the cloud, have migrated some parts of your business or are entirely operating in the cloud, we have the services and expertise to uplift your business. We’d love to hear from you!