It is finally law….details on the Small Business Technology Boost
The Parliament has now passed legislation to introduce two new tax incentives that support small and medium businesses to train and upskill employees and improve their digital and tech capacity.
Worth more than $1.5 billion, the Technology Investment Boost and the Skills and Training Boost will be backdated to 29 March 2022 so small and medium businesses can receive the full benefits
The measures became law on 23 June 2023.
Small business technology investment boost
Small businesses (with an aggregated annual turnover of less than $50 million) can deduct an additional 20% of the expenditure incurred for the purposes of business digital operations or digitising its operations on business expenses and depreciating assets such as portable payment devices, cyber security systems or subscriptions to cloud based services.
An annual $100,000 cap on expenditure will apply to each qualifying income year. Businesses can continue to deduct expenditure over $100,000 under existing law.
When the technology investment boost applies
This measure applies to expenditure incurred in the period commencing from 7:30 pm AEDT 29 March 2022 until 30 June 2023. An entity can claim the boost for expenditure on a depreciating asset only if the asset is first used, or installed ready for use, by 30 June 2023.
The special rules will apply to when the bonus deduction can be claimed in tax returns depending on a business’s balancing date.
Small business skills and training boost
Small businesses (with an aggregated annual turnover of less than $50 million) will be able to deduct an additional 20% of expenditure that is incurred for the provision of eligible external training courses to their employees by registered providers in Australia. Businesses may continue to deduct expenditure that is ineligible for the bonus deduction in accordance with the existing tax law.
When the skills and training boost applies
This measure applies to expenditure incurred in the period commencing from 7:30 pm AEDT 29 March 2022 until 30 June 2024.
The special rules will apply to when the bonus deduction can be claimed in tax returns depending on a business’s balancing date.
