Talking Cents

A summary of key Government Grants for small businesses from small business accountant Sydney Part 1

Cash flow is one of the most significantly difficult things for small businesses to manage, whether to repay ongoing debts or if required to purchase new equipment. If your business is one of the many that is affected by this, here are a few key government grants available to small businesses, to ensure continued growth in 2016. We the accountants for small business in Zetland have summarised it for you.

• R&D Tax Incentive: This grant, open to all businesses conducting research and development offsets some of the costs that business incur in the process of innovation, as long as these activities are eligible. Refundable tax offsets are available up to 45%, as long as the total turnover of your business is under $20 million. If your turnover is higher than this figure, this offset on R&D deductions is 40% and non-refundable. All business looking to benefit from this incentive are required to register their R&D activities with Ausindustry to check eligibility of activities. For more details and to determine if your business qualifies, you can refer to the R&D Tax Incentive Snapshot available online.
• Import & Manufacturing Incentives: This program helps small to medium sized businesses by allowing concessions of duties when importing. Import duty concessions are available on select raw materials and semi-finished goods such as plastic or paper goods, metals and packaging materials. Whether the imported goods are eligible for these concessions is determined by independent technical assessments conducted by the government to check wither the goods are of a better quality than comparable Australian products.
• Automotive Transformation Scheme: This grant has been in effect since 2011 and by has been supporting improvement in the besieged car industry by allowing businesses in this sector to access cash payments for investment purposes. Each year, this grant has been providing car manufacturers, component makers and service providers up to $2.5 billion in assistance.This scheme is scheduled to run until the end of 2020.

If your business falls into any of the above sectors, it may be worthwhile to look into how they may assist with growth and development in 2016. Next week, mas accountants, the small business accountant in Sydney will be back with more key points.