HOW THE MINING TAX REPEAL WILL AFFECT SMES

The Australian Government recently passed its bill to repeal the mining tax. The repeal won’t just affect mining companies as the proceeds of the mining tax were to fund a number of concessions for families and SMEs.  The repeal of the mining tax will result in the following changes:

1.    Abolition of the mining tax from 1 October 2014;

2.    Removal of the company loss carry-back from 1 July 2013;

3.    Reduction of the instant asset write-off threshold to $1,000 for assets purchased from 1 January 2014;

4.    Removal of accelerated depreciation for motor vehicles from 1 January 2014;

5.    Abolition of geothermal energy concessions from 1 July 2014;

6.    The low-income super contribution will stay until June 30, 2017;

7.    The income-support bonus will remain in place until December 31, 2016;

8.    Compulsory superannuation will stay at 9.5% until July 1, 2021 when it will rise to 10 per cent. It will then increase annually until it reaches 12 per cent; and

9.    The school-kids bonus will be means tested so that only families earning up to $100,000 will qualify and it will remain until December 31, 2016.

Please contact your UHY Haines Norton Brisbane advisor on (07) 3210 5500 if you have queries about the impact of these changes to your family or business.

By Liz Gibbs

Compulsory Super Guarantee Charge on hold at 9.5%

With the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2014 having now been passed by Government, the Superannuation Guarantee Charge percentage is confirmed as being on hold at 9.5% until 30 June 2021.  From 1 July 2021 there will be an annual increase of 0.5% until the SGC reaches 12% from 1 July 2025. 

 

Other measures included in the bill are:

• Reduction in the Instant Asset Write-off to $1,000 for Small Businesses
• Discontinuation of the Accelerated Depreciation for Motor Vehicles
• Low Income Super Contribution will continue unchanged until 30 June 2017
• School Kids Bonus to continue until 31 December 2016, now to be means tested.  Requiring the family income to be less than $100,000 pa.

By Malcolm Barkle