Boost Your Business Deductions Great news for small businesses as the Albaneses Government has introduced draft legislation to enact the Technology Investment Boost and the Skills and Training Boost. This follows on from the 2022-2023 Federal Budget, where they announced that there will be further support to small business owners, offering $1.6 billion in Tax relief to support small businesses in upgrading their digital technologies and upskilling their employees. Both proposed boosts will apply to small businesses with an aggregated annual turnover of under $50 million. Technology Investment Boost Under the technology investment boost, businesses can deduct an additional 20% of costs incurred on business expenses and depreciating assets that support their digital adoption. This means that for every $100 invested in digital technologies, small businesses will receive a $120 reduction of Taxable income, with an annual cap of $100,000 for each qualifying income year. The deduction will be backdated to when the boost was initially announced in the budget until the end of the 2023 financial year, 30 March 2022 to 30 June 2023. Some examples include:

• Cyber security systems;
• Subscriptions to cloud services;
• Web design;

• Electronic invoicing and;
• Portable payment devices.

Skills and Training Boost $550 million will be allocated to the small business skills and training boost, where small businesses can access a 20% bonus deduction for any external training courses to upskill their employees. Certain restrictions do apply in regards to eligibility for the deduction, including:

• Training must be provided to employees in Australia or online;

• Must be delivered to entities that are registered within Australia;
• Expenditure must be incurred from 30 March 2022 until 30 June 2024 and;
• Not applicable to any in-house training or persons who aren't employees.

Fortunately, this boost will also be effective from 30 March 2022, meaning any expenditure incurred from 30 March 2022 until the end of the 2022 financial year will be included in the 2022-2023 financial year, and any expenditure incurred thereafter will be included in its respective financial year, up until 30 June 2024. The above information is currently draft legislation that is open for consultation until September 19. If you are a small business owner and would like to know more about these incentives, do not hesitate to contact your trusted Hall Chadwick advisor.