Blog Layout

Victorian Circuit Breaker Action Business Support Packages

Lowe Lippmann Chartered Accountants

Victorian Circuit Breaker Action Business Support Packages


Yesterday the Victorian Government announced new support measures for small businesses, including sole traders, impacted by the coronavirus circuit-breaker action (enacted between 13-17 February 2021), with hospitality, tourism, events and creative industries operators to benefit from grants.

 

There are four initiatives available for eligible businesses as part of this new support package.

 


1.  Business Costs Assistance Program


The new Business Costs Assistance Program will offer grants of $2,000 for eligible employing and non-employing businesses in the hospitality, food wholesaling, tourism, events and selected retail industries.

 

This program will help eligible businesses with costs incurred as a result of the circuit breaker action.   For example, businesses may have incurred costs through loss of perishable food or produce and cancelled bookings.

 

Eligible businesses with an annual payroll of up to $3 million can receive a one-off grant of $2,000, whether they have employees or not.

 

Applications for the Business Costs Assistance Program should be open on Monday 22 February 2021, and when available the enrolment process should be found by clicking here

 


2. Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund

Eligible businesses who received a grant through the Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund will receive a further one-off payment of $3,000 to help with costs incurred as a result of the circuit breaker action.   Businesses that receive this payment will not be eligible to receive a grant from the Business Costs Assistance Program (above).

 

You do not need to apply for this payment, as all eligible grant participants will be contacted by Business Victoria with further information.  Details of the original Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund can be found by clicking here.


3.  Victorian Accommodation Support Program

The new Victorian Accommodation Support Program is an expansion of the Regional Tourism Accommodation Support Program (original details - click here ) and includes tourist accommodation premises in Greater Melbourne.   This will support accommodation providers whose bookings were cancelled due to the circuit breaker action to limit the spread of COVID-19.

 

This program supports tourism accommodation providers with a grant of one of two tiers of support for those with demonstrated booking cancellations between Friday 12 February and Wednesday 17 February 2021, as follows:

  • Tier 1 : Funding of $2,250 (ex GST) per Accommodation Premises experiencing 10 or fewer cancelled nights.
  • Tier 2 : Funding of $4,500 (ex GST) per Accommodation Premises with 11 or more cancelled nights.

 

The Victorian Accommodation Support Program will open soon, and in the interim you can register your interest in this program now by clicking here.



4.  Melbourne Travel Voucher Scheme

Building on the on the previously released Regional Travel Voucher Scheme, it was announced that the scheme will be expanded to include a new Melbourne Travel Voucher Scheme to support travel in regional Victoria.

 

Combined the two schemes include:

  • A new Melbourne Travel Voucher Scheme with 40,000 vouchers to support travel in greater Melbourne.  This scheme will be launched soon, and no further details are currently available.
  • An expanded Regional Travel Voucher Scheme (for details – click here ) with an additional 10,000 vouchers to support travel in regional Victoria, and this third round will be open on 30 March 2021 with eligible travel between 6 April 2021 to 31 May 2021.

 

The total number of vouchers offered under the both schemes will be 200,000 vouchers.


Please do not hesitate to contact your Lowe Lippmann Relationship Partner if you wish to discuss any of these matters further.

19 Mar, 2024
2024 FBT Year End is Fast Approaching! The end of the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) year is fast approaching on 31 March 2024, so we take this opportunity to revisit some hot FBT topics for both employers and employees, including: FBT exemption for electric cars Work from home arrangements Contractor or employee Mismatched information for entertainment claimed as a deduction and what is reported for FBT purposes Employee contributions by journal entry Not lodging FBT returns Housekeeping essentials
06 Mar, 2024
Super contribution caps to rise The big news story for those contributing to super is that the contribution caps are set to increase from 1 July 2024 . The concessional contribution cap will increase from $27,500 to $30,000 . This 'CC' cap is broadly applicable to employer super guarantee contributions, personal deductible contributions and salary sacrificed contributions. The non-concessional contribution cap will increase from $110,000 to $120,000 . This 'NCC' cap is generally applicable to personal non-deductible contributions. The increase in the NCC cap also means that the maximum available under the three-year bring forward provisions will increase from $330,000 to $360,000 . This is provided that the 'bring forward' is triggered on or after 1 July 2024. The 'total superannuation balance' threshold for being able to make non-concessional contributions (and the pension general transfer balance cap) will remain at $1.9 million . We recently released a Tax Alert on this topic, to see full details click here .
23 Feb, 2024
Superannuation contribution caps to increase from 1 July 2024 The Federal Government has announced some key changes to the superannuation system that will take effect from 1 July 2024 . Key changes include an increase in the concessional and non-concessional contribution caps, the bring forward caps, and the total superannuation balance thresholds that apply to determine the maximum amount of bring forward non-concessional contributions available to members.
05 Feb, 2024
Government announces changes to proposed 'Stage 3' tax cuts Despite previous assurances, and after much speculation, the Government has announced tweaks to the 'Stage 3' tax cuts that will apply from 1 July 2024. More particularly, the Government proposes to: reduce the 19% tax rate to 16%; reduce the 32.5% tax rate to 30% for incomes between $45,000 and a new $135,000 threshold; increase the threshold at which the 37% tax rate applies from $120,000 to $135,000; and increase the threshold at which the 45% tax rate applies from $180,000 to $190,000. The Medicare levy low-income thresholds for the 2024 income year will also be increased. We recently released a Tax Alert on this topic, to see full details click here .
25 Jan, 2024
Government announces changes to planned Stage 3 tax cuts The Federal Government has now announced changes to the marginal tax rates (and income thresholds, or brackets) starting from 1 July 2024. The announcement is a move away from the planned “Stage 3 tax cuts”. What were the planned Stage 3 tax cuts? The previous Coalition Government announced a long-term plan to implement three stages of reduced marginal tax rates and brackets between the 2018-19 and 2024-25 income years, with the final Stage 3 tax cuts due to start from 1 July 2024. The current Labor Government agreed in the last election to keep these changes. What are the announced changes? The changes to the Stage 3 tax cuts will now provide lower to middle income earners with greater tax relief and effectively halve the tax cuts for higher income earners.
14 Jan, 2024
Property developers should be aware of upcoming changes to Victorian state taxes During the 2023 calendar year, the Victorian Parliament passed some significant changes to various state taxes, including land tax, duty and the Windfall Gains Tax. The key detail to note is that not all of these changes have the same starting dates, so we will consider the changes in order, on a timeline basis.
13 Dec, 2023
Christmas Parties & Gifts 2023 With the well-earned 2023 holiday season on the way, many employers will be planning to reward staff with a celebratory party or event. However, there are important issues to consider, including the possible FBT and income tax implications of providing 'entertainment' (including Christmas parties) to staff and clients.
13 Dec, 2023
ATO's lodgment penalty amnesty is about to end The ATO is remitting failure to lodge penalties for eligible small businesses. Businesses which have not yet taken advantage of the ATO's lodgment penalty amnesty only have until 31 December 2023 to do so. Businesses must meet the following criteria in order to be eligible for the amnesty: had an annual turnover under $10 million when the original lodgment was due; have overdue income tax returns, business activity statements or FBT returns that were due between 1 December 2019 and 28 February 2022; and lodge between 1 June and 31 December 2023. When taxpayers lodge their eligible income tax returns, business activity statements and FBT returns, failure to lodge penalties will be remitted without the need to apply. The amnesty does not apply to privately owned groups or individuals controlling over $5 million of net wealth. Directors who bring their company lodgments up to date can also have penalties remitted and, if they are reliant on company lodgments to finalise their own tax affairs, any failure to lodge penalties will be remitted. This also applies to eligible lodgments made between 1 June and 31 December 2023.
07 Dec, 2023
Background For the year ending 31 December 2024, VRLT only impacts properties in 16 of Melbourne’s inner and middle suburbs, which is imposed in addition to any other land tax or surcharge land tax that may apply. A property is taken to be “vacant” if it has not been lived in for more than six months out of a calendar year, and this does not need to be a consecutive period of occupancy. Determining whether a property is “vacant” is done by considering the use of the land in the year that immediately precedes the relevant land tax year (ie. the use in the 2024 calendar year will determine whether VRLT applies in 2025).  VRLT is an annual tax for vacant land (subject to some exemptions), and for the year ending 31 December 2024, the VRLT rate is 1.0% of the capital improved value ( CIV ) of taxable land. The CIV of a property is a value of the land, buildings and any other capital improvements made to the property as determined by the general valuation process. It is displayed on the council rates notice for the property.
28 Nov, 2023
Background During February 2023, the Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No 1) Bill 2023 ( the Bill ) was introduced to improve the integrity of off-market share buy-backs undertaken by listed public companies. These measures were first announced in the October 2022–23 Federal Budget. At that time, the difference between the total purchase price and that part of the purchase price debited against the company's share capital account (in relation to the off-market share buy-back ) was taken to be a dividend, which could be franked where imputation credits were available. Conversely, at that time, in the case of an on-market buy-back (ie. on an exchange in the ordinary course of trading), no part of the buy-back price was treated as a dividend and the total amount received by the shareholder was treated as consideration for the sale of the shares. The amendments put forward in the Bill proposed to ensure that where a listed public company undertakes an off-market share buy-back of a share, no part of the purchase price in response of the buy-back will be taken to be a dividend.
More Posts
Share by: