COVID-19 STIMULUS NEWSLETTER

The Government is enhancing the Boosting Cash Flow for Employers measure it announced on 12 March 2020. The Government is providing a tax-free payment up to $100,000 to eligible small and medium-sized businesses, and not for-profits (NFPs) that employ people, with a minimum payment of $20,000. These payments will help businesses and NFPs with their cash flow so they can keep operating, pay their rent, electricity and other bills and retain staff.

The Government is backing businesses to invest to help the economy withstand and recover from the economic impact of Coronavirus. The two business investment measures are designed to assist Australian businesses and economic growth in the short-term.

INCREASING THE INSTANT ASSET WRITE-OFF

The Government is increasing the instant asset write-off (IAWO) threshold from $30,000 to $150,000 and expanding access to include all businesses with aggregated annual turnover of less than $500 million (up from $50 million) until 30 June 2020. The IAWO is due to revert to $1,000 for small businesses (turnover less than $10 million) from 1 July 2020.

INCOME SUPPORT PAYMENTS

The Government is temporarily expanding eligibility to income support payments and establishing a new, time-limited Coronavirus supplement to be paid at a rate of $550 per fortnight. This supplement will be paid to both existing and new recipients of JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance Jobseeker, Parenting Payment (Partnered and Single), Farm Household Allowance and Special Benefit.

EARLY ACCESS TO SUPERANNUATION

The government is allowing eligible individuals affected by COVID-19 to access up to $10,000 of their superannuation (super) in 2019–2020 and a further $10,000 in 2020–2021. Individuals will not need to pay tax on amounts released and the money they withdraw will not affect Centrelink or Veterans’ Affairs payments.