Small Business Financial Information – Corona Virus

money

We are all preparing for a different reality over the next few weeks and months, as COVID-19 impacts our lives it will be a character test for us all. With large gatherings banned and empty supermarket shelves, the reality is sinking in as Australia gets ready to join Italy in lock down. Many of us are now working from home and practicing social distancing, as we pull together for the good of our overall population and to slow the spread of COVID-19; allowing our health system to manage the looming influx of cases.

For many of you, these changes mean trying to imagine what the future looks like for your business and your staff. What will happen to my business? What bills can I hold off or remove? Will my cashflow last? How can I access help to get me through? What will my business be like on the other side of this lock down? Can I diversify?

Wiseclick can help, we will continue to trade as usual. We have online screen share support available for those that are isolated. We are here if you need us to help you to analyse your financials and project your cash flow through this rough period, or to decipher the government stimulus measures and how they apply to you. Contact our office on 92071088 or book for a support session here. 

The government has released economic stimulus measures to help business and, in an attempt, to keep people employed. Listed below for you in an easy to read format as of 16th March 2020, please contact our office for details more specific to your situation:

  • A business employing staff (turnover less than $50M) to receive an ATO credit against their BAS payment due. Calculated on 50% of the PAYG amount for their March 20 and June 20 BAS. Minimum of $2,000 and a max of $25,000 (different for monthly reporters)
  • Employers with apprentices and trainees and < 20 staff. Subsidy of 50% of Apprentice or trainee wages for 9 months up to $21,000
  • Four-month deferral on payments to the ATO including BAS, Income tax and FBT
  • Remitted penalties and interest since 23rd Jan 2020 on ATO account
  • Low-interest payment plans to ATO
  • Remember that you can Vary your PAYG Instalments if you are forecasting a loss for the financial year
  • Those that usually receive a refund on their BAS can now easily convert to month BAS to access this cash more quickly
  • Instant Asset Write off up to $150,000 per asset for business with a turnover less than $500M

I will send updates for you as there are new announcements made.

That’s the business info done but before I go, I wanted to include a personal note.

I come from a large family of science and medical based professionals who have kept me informed ahead of the general public about this virus. Education is power in these types of situations; stress is made worse by the “unknown” so watch the news and read articles about the virus and keep up to date.

We are very lucky as we live on an Island Continent and Australia is one of the last places to be affected so we can learn from others and have the advantage but have no illusion, that we will be affected by this virus. We need to prepare and distance ourselves from one another as best we can until most of us have been through this and we have a vaccine available. We have to pace this spread so that our hospital staff don’t have to make hard decisions on who they treat and who is left untreated.

For everyone’s sake and especially for the sake of your elderly loved ones we will need to pitch in to reach this goal by practicing good hand hygiene and social distancing. We will all have to live a little differently for a while and business owners will have to think outside of the box with our business measures and how we trade.

Maybe living differently is not such a bad thing, our fast-paced lives could do with a bit of “time out”. Have a home-cooked meal as a family instead of getting takeout or going to a restaurant, play a board game instead of going out to the movies, go to the local park for a family footy game, take long walks in the fresh air. Take this chance to reconnect, call your family and long-lost friends, take time out to have long chats over the phone or skype.

Reassess your life goals and what you want to do going forward, our training centre is still running through our online portal, why not up-skill on that new career with any downtime (we deliver Certificate IV in Bookkeeping and Diploma in Accounting enroll here)

For me, I am thinking that I will spring clean my house and start up again with the crafts that I always loved to do. I feel like this time will go really fast as I want to do so many things that I haven’t previously been able to do (always being out!). Let’s put a positive spin on this and look forward to re-evaluating, spending time with family and making meaningful plans towards our goals.

Remember; we are all in this together so look after each other, these are uncharted waters so there is no wrong choices

Until next month,

Cheryl

 

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