Small business concessions ignored

JUNE 2010

A TAX partner from Deloitte says SMEs will be disappointed the federal Budget had not provided assistance despite a number of measures being foreshadowed in the Henry Review.
The Henry review recommended further small business concessions. These included:

• The small business entity turnover threshold should be
increased from $2 million to $5 million and consideration
should be given to adjusting the $6 million net asset
value test under the small business CGT concessions.

• Companies should be allowed to carry back revenue
losses to offset against prior year’s taxable income,
with the amount of the tax refund limited to the
company’s franking account balance.

• The rules around the taxation of trusts should be
updated and rewritten to reduce complexity.

• A flow through tax entity regime for closely held
companies should be considered in the future.
“Small business had hoped that these Henry recommendations might have been announced as part of the Budget to support Australian SMEs,” says Deloitte’s David Pring.