Article by Jane Tweedy, Business Advisor, Western Sydney Business Centre
Have you hired any employees since July 2015? If you have, you may be eligible for a NSW OSR grant of $2000 per full time employee (pro rata for casuals and part timers). Read our latest article about this, and other Government assistance that may be open to you. Please contact the Centre if you need help with determining what eligibility you may have.
A common question we’re asked is “What Government grants or assistance are available for my small business?” There are various options, though often not the handouts people hope for!
Government grants
On www.business.gov.au/assistance you can freely access the grants currently available at a state and Federal Government level. ASIC have issued warnings about similar services charging a fee, so please be careful. When looking through the assistance available, I suggest filtering by NSW, but otherwise look through all the grants to avoid missing any that may apply.
Small Business Grant
This grant is the one most available to small businesses. It is a NSW OSR grant of $2000 for a full time employee, pro rata for part time or casual employees after the position has been filled for a year. Your staffing level must remain higher than the year before. Currently OSR are waiving the 60 day registration period, so you can claim if you have hired any employees since July 2015. This includes yourself if you started from day one as a company. We can help navigate your eligibility for this grant.
“The $20000 thing”
Most confusion is about the “$20000 thing”. You do not get a refund on assets purchased, but rather accelerated/ simplified depreciation. This means you claim the full cost of each asset purchased under $20000 in the tax year, rather than depreciating the cost over time. This expires 30 June 2017.
Training – online and face to face
Government agencies such as Fair Work and ATO offer online training courses in key subjects. Under programmes like Business Connect you can attend workshops for a subsidised price or receive face to face business advice (recently increased to 4 hours at no cost!). Fair Trading also offer regular workshops, some with attached CPD points.
Forms and checklists
Many Government sites contain access to documents including business.gov.au for documents like marketing plans and cashflow reports, and Fair Work for all things employment related.
For a full list of Government assistance available, please refer to www.business.gov.au/assistance.