It’s tax time again, and with it comes new changes from the Australian Tax Office. Read on to see what changes you should be aware of.

Wages and Super

From July 1st 2023, the super guarantee rate will increase from 10.5% to 11%. It is essential to factor this into budgets for the next 12 months. With this, there has also been an increase in the minimum wage to $882.80 per week.

Instant Asset Write-Off

With temporary full expensing finishing up on June 30th 2023, the ATO has reinstated the instant asset write off program for small businesses with less than $10 million annual turnover, which will allow for assets up to $20,000 to be written off from July 1st 2023 to June 30th 2024.

Small Business Energy Incentive

To encourage small businesses to invest in alternative energy, the Government will allow an additional 20% deduction (up to $20,000) on the purchase of essential electrification equipment (e.g. batteries, heat pumps and energy efficient appliances).

Deductions for small businesses that invested in upskilling or training employees

Small businesses with an aggregated annual turnover of less than $50 million, are eligible for a bonus deduction of 20% on top of their ordinary deduction for any expenses related to upskilling employees. They must be eligible external training courses from eligible registered training providers in Australia.

Expenses occurred between 29 March 2022 and 30 June 2024 apply.

Deductions for small businesses that invested in technological assets

Another one for small businesses, any eligible expenditures and depreciating assets acquired for use in digital operations or digitising operations, can be claimed as an additional 20% deduction on top of ordinary deduction. Eligible expenses of up to $100,000 can be claimed, with the additional deduction being a maximum of $20,000 per income year.

The period of expenditure for claims is from 29 March 2022 until 30 June 2023.

New commonwealth penalty unit increase

The Commonwealth penalty unit has now increased to $313, after the index went up on 1 July 2023. Before this, the penalty had increased to $275 from 1 January 2023.

The penalty unit is the base penalty for breaching Australian laws at the federal, state and territory levels. The unit is multiplied to fit the offense, and in the case of tax returns, this means failing to submit a tax return on time now results in a minimum fine of $313 for every 28 days passed the due date.