Federal Budget Insights – 2022-23

The Federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg delivered his fourth budget speech last night and delivered a typical pre-election budget - lots of goodies for (nearly) everyone!

As with every budget there is a lot to digest and the devil is always in the details. The “leaked” initiatives were all there with a clear focus on cost of living, national security and assistance to regions and industries impacted most by COVID, fires and floods.

An area of the budget that has grown significantly in recent years is the Government's funding of new and existing technology projects. But this year there was a strong focus on cyber security with the announcement of $9.9 billion investment in Australia’s offensive and defensive cyber security capabilities. This was described by the Government as the “largest ever investment in Australia’s intelligence and cyber capabilities.”

The need for more robust telecommunication systems across the country has really been exposed in recent years with more and more people working from home and the significant rise of the online economy, due to the change in lifestyle brought on by COVID. In response to this and a lot of people making tree and sea changes there has been a $1.3 billion allocation to “expand mobile connectivity, resilience and affordability in regional Australia” and for NBN Co. to upgrade its fixed wireless and satellite networks to improve services in remote and regional areas.

But one of the proposals that got our attention here at payFURL, is the technology investment boost. The technology investment boost is designed to encourage digital adoption by small businesses.

Small businesses (with a turnover of less than $50 million) can claim an additional 20% deduction for expenditure incurred on business expenses and depreciating assets that support digital adoption – for example: portable payment devices, cyber security systems or subscriptions to cloud-based services. There is an annual cap of $100,000 on expenditure that will be eligible for the boost.

For example, if your business paid $100 for a subscription to a cloud-based service, your business could be eligible for a deduction of up to $120. This measure applies to expenditure incurred from 7:30pm, 29 March 2022 to 30 June 2024 and will become available once the legislation has passed through parliament.

Online payments is an important part of digital adoption and especially the ability to offer multiple payment options to your customers. payFURL supports your businesses digital adoption and can help your business on this journey by giving you control of your online payments. So make sure you chat with your tax adviser about how you can make the most out of this technology investment boost.

And contact payFURL so you can find out how to take control of your online payments - Your Payments, Your Way!

Sources:

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/all-the-tech-in-the-2022-federal-budget-578039

https://www.tjnaccountants.com.au/federal-budget-2022-23/