STATE GOVERNMENT STIMULUS & RELIEF MEASURES

CORONAVIRUS PAYROLL TAX RELIEF

You may be eligible for one or more of a range of payroll tax relief measures as a result of the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19).

These include:

• refunds of payroll tax for 2 months
• a payroll tax holiday for 3 months
• deferral of paying payroll tax for the 2020 calendar year.

Eligibility

If you are an employer (or part of a group of employers) who pays $6.5 million or less in Australian taxable wages, you may should receive an email about a:

• refund of your payroll tax for 2 months
• payroll tax holiday (i.e. no payroll tax to be paid) for 3 months.

You can also apply for a deferral of payroll tax for the 2020 calendar year. (If you have already applied for a deferral, you do not need not reapply – it will be extended.)

If you are an employer (or part of a group of employers) who pays more than $6.5 million in Australian taxable wages and have been negatively affected (directly or indirectly) by coronavirus, you can apply for a:

• deferral of payroll tax for the 2020 calendar year (If you have already applied for a deferral, you do not need not reapply – it will be extended.)
• refund of your payroll tax for 2 months.

A business is directly or indirectly affected by coronavirus if their current turnover, profit, customers, bookings, retail sales, supply contracts or other factors are negatively affected compared with normal operating conditions.

Once your applications have been processed:

• You won't need to pay payroll tax returns for the 2020 calendar year.
• You must continue to lodge returns in OSRconnect - without paying them - during this time.
• You can resume paying returns at any time during the deferral period.

QUEENSLAND COVID-19 JOBS SUPPORT LOANS

Expressions of Interest: Queensland COVID-19 Jobs Support Loans

• The Queensland Government announced on Tuesday, 17 March a new $500 million loan facility, interest free for the first 12 months, to support Queensland businesses impacted by COVID-19 retain employees and maintain their operations.
• The $500 million concessional loan facility will comprise low interest loans of up to $250,000 for carry on finance with an initial 12-month interest free period for businesses to retain staff.
• The Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) is responsible for the administration of these concessional loans and is currently taking expressions of interest in the lead up to rolling these loans out as soon as possible.

Email with your full name, phone number and preferred email address or send your details to contact_us@qrida.qld.gov.au.

Or

Freecall 1800 623 946

QRIDA will contact you when the scheme is open to applications shortly.

OTHER RELIEF AVAILABLE IN QUEENSLAND

The worker and industry support package includes:

Up to $500 million to assist workers who lose their job or income with retraining, job-matching and other help to transition into jobs in the industries that are vital to get Queensland through this crisis – such as health care, agriculture, food production, transport, cleaning and mining.

Other support for business

• Relief for businesses renting government premises.
• $500 rebate on electricity bills for all Queensland small and medium sized businesses that consume less then 100,000 kilowatt hours. This will be automatically applied to electricity bills.
• Liquor licensing fees waived for business impacted by enforced safety industry shutdowns.

$300 million for households

• $200 rebate for all 2.1 million Queensland households (including the $50 Asset Ownership Dividend already announced) to offset the cost of water and electricity bills.
• Automatically applied through household electricity bills.

VICTORIA

PAYROLL TAX WAIVED

Businesses with annual taxable wages up to $3 million will have their payroll tax for the 2019-20 financial year waived.

Eligible businesses must continue to lodge returns but do not need to make further payments for this financial year.

These businesses can also defer paying payroll tax for the first quarter of the 2020-21 financial year.

LIQUOR LICENCE FEES WAIVED

Businesses that have paid for a renewable liquor licence for 2020 will be reimbursed their licence fee and those yet to pay will have the fee waived.

The State Revenue Office will administer the reimbursement, regardless of whether the licence fee was paid to it or the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.

LAND TAX DEFERRAL

Land owners due to pay 2020 land tax that have at least one non-residential property and total taxable landholdings below $1 million have the option of deferring their 2020 land tax payment until after 31 December 2020.

The State Revenue Office will contact all taxpayers who are eligible for this deferral.

NEW SOUTH WALES

With the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the NSW Government has announced a series of economic stimulus measures to protect jobs at risk. The centrepiece of the measures is the reduction in the 2019/20 payroll tax liability by 25% and the waiver of payroll tax payments for three months for employers with grouped Australian wages of no more than $10 million.

Eligibility

Employers whose total grouped Australian wages for the 2019-20 financial year are no more than $10 million. 

PAYROLL TAX REDUCTION

Eligible employers will have their 2019/20 financial year payroll tax liability reduced by 25%. The reduction in the liability will be received when the annual reconciliation for the year is lodged, which is due on 28 July 2020.

PAYROLL TAX PAYMENT WAIVER

Eligible employers will not be required to make payroll tax payments in NSW for the months of March, April and May 2020. It is currently unclear whether the monthly returns will still need to be lodged.

In this manner, the measures provide almost immediate effect by relieving eligible employers from the March 2020 payroll tax payment which would have been due on 7 April 2020.

Eligible employers will still be required to report wages paid during those months in their annual reconciliation. 

PAYROLL TAX THRESHOLD INCREASED FROM 1 JULY 2020

The NSW Government has also announced the payroll tax free threshold will increase from $900,000 to $1,000,000 with effect from 1 July 2020. This increase is a general increase and will apply to all employers. This replaces the previously scheduled increase in the threshold to $950,000.