Small Business Assistance

Assistance for Small Businesses

The Tax Office has recently introduced two measures to assist businesses that have an annual turnover of less than $2 million to manage their tax payment obligations.

These measures are:

twelve-month general interest charge (GIC)-free payment arrangements; and

deferral of activity statement payment due dates.

GIC-free payment arrangements

A business with an activity statement debt, such as GST and FBT, can apply for a twelve-month GIC-free payment arrangement.

An application for an arrangement must be entered into between 1 June 2009 and 30 June 2010.

A business can renegotiate an existing payment arrangement entered into before 1 June 2009 to take advantage of the GIC-free payment arrangement.

Deferral of payment due dates

A business can also request a deferral of payment on its next activity statement. During the period of the deferral, no GIC will apply.

The maximum deferral period will depend on whether a business lodges its activity statement monthly, quarterly or annually.

Activity statements eligible for a deferral include:

monthly statements for the period May 2009 to June 2010 (inclusive);

quarterly statements for the period June 2009 to June 2010 (inclusive); and

annual statement for the 2008/09 income year.

A payment deferral request must be made on or before the original due date of an activity statement.