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Payroll tax refund COVID-19: At the top of the Victorian economic stimulus package is a refund of payroll tax for small businesses. Effectively, the payroll tax threshold applies to Victorian entities with Australian taxable wages less than $3m for the 2019/20 income year.
As well as the payroll tax refunds, registered businesses in the hospitality, tourism, accommodation, arts/entertainment and retail industries will receive tailored support. This is in the form of a grant, and specifically not a loan.
Other measures announced include deferral of certain land tax payments, and rent relief for businesses renting government premises.
Detail:
The Victorian Government has established an economic survival package to support Victorian businesses and workers through the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $1.7 billion Economic Survival Package complements the work of the Federal Government.
The package includes the following key programs.
Payroll Tax Refund
Businesses with annual taxable wages up to $3 million will have their payroll tax for the 2019-20 financial year waived. This will support 24,000 businesses and up to 400,000 workers.
The State Revenue Office will directly contact eligible businesses to reimburse them for payroll tax already paid in the financial year.
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.
More information about the administration of these relief measures will be sent directly to eligible businesses.
Visit www.sro.vic.gov.au
Liquor licence fees waived | Payroll tax refund COVID-19
Renewable liquor licence fees for 2020 will be waived. Businesses that have already paid will be reimbursed.
The State Revenue Office will administer the reimbursement, regardless of whether the licence fee was paid to it or the Victorian Commission for Gaming and Liquor Regulation.
Visit www.sro.vic.gov.au
Business Support Fund
The $500 million Business Support Fund will support the hardest hit sectors, including hospitality, tourism, accommodation, arts and entertainment, and retail.
The Government will work with the Victorian Chamber, Australian Hotels Association and Australian Industry Group to deliver the Fund, which will help these businesses – which may not be eligible for payroll tax refunds due to their size – survive and keep people in work.
Visit www.business.vic.gov.au
Working for Victoria Fund | Payroll tax refund COVID-19
Under the $500 million Working for Victoria Fund, displaced workers will be eligible to apply for different types of work. This presents opportunities for paid work and an opportunity to contribute to Victoria’s ability to manage this event and support the community.
Some displaced workers will have skills that can be readily transferred to new roles. The Government can also assist skills development or help people in obtaining immediate accreditation to commence work.
The Government will work across the public sector, local government, the not-for-profit sector and key private sector employers to facilitate job matching.
Visit www.vic.gov.au/workingforvictoria
Land tax deferral
Landowners 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.
Visit www.sro.vic.gov.au
Fast tracking outstanding supplier invoices
The Government will pay all outstanding supplier invoices within five business days – releasing up to $750 million into the economy earlier. The private sector is urged to do the same where possible.
Rent relief for commercial tenants in government buildings
The Government will work directly with commercial tenants in government buildings who can apply for rent relief. Private landlords are also being encouraged to provide rent relief or holidays to help businesses.
Business Victoria HOTLINE
Businesses across the state can now access information on dealing with COVID-19 by calling the Business Victoria hotline on 13 22 15.
Coronavirus (COVID‑19) updates
For the latest updates and advice on the novel coronavirus in Victoria, visit the DHHS website:
www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus
Mental health and wellbeing during the Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak
The outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19 has impacted people in varying ways on an international scale. It is understandable during times like this that people may be feeling afraid, worried, anxious and overwhelmed by the constantly changing alerts and media coverage regarding the spread of the virus.
While it is important to stay informed, lifeline.org.au and beyondblue.org.au have some mental health and wellbeing tips and strategies to continue looking after ourselves and each other during these difficult times.
To contact Lifeline:
Phone:
13 11 14 (24 hours/7 days)
Text:
0477 13 11 14
(6pm – midnight AEDT, 7 nights)
Chat online:
www.lifeline.org.au/crisis-chat
(7pm – midnight, 7 nights)
To contact Beyond Blue:
Phone:
1300 22 4636 (24 hours/ 7days)
Chat online:
www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/get-immediate-support (3pm – 12am, 7 days)
Email:
online.beyondblue.org.au/email/
Get a response in 24 hours
Read more:
https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/economic-survival-package-to-support-businesses-and-jobs/
See the latest updates on COVID-19 and how it may affect you here.
The State Government of NSW has released a business support package to alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. The State Government has mainly focused on providing assistance through the payroll tax relief, as the intention is to help businesses keep their employees on the payroll.
NSW has opted to waive payroll tax for businesses with Australian taxable wages of up to $10m for the three months leading to 30 June 2020.
The stimulus package will help to protect communities and jobs in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak over the next six months.
Key elements of the NSW COVID-19 package include:
Business support and jobs | NSW COVID-19 business support
Read more:
https://www.nsw.gov.au/news-and-events/news/health-boost-and-economic-stimulus/
See the latest updates on COVID-19 and how it may affect you here.
Warren Buffet once said, “Be Fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful.”
The world has certainly become much more uncertain in the last 24 hours. In the space of 90 minutes we had Prime Minister Morrison and Treasurer Frydenberg present the Australian Governments stimulatory packages to help offset the economic effects of the Coronavirus, followed by President Trump who delivered the US Government’s response and the ‘underwhelming’ response from the Europe Union (ECB).
For our positioning in your portfolios, we started the year very defensively, in quality assets across a diversified range of market sectors and security positions. We haven’t altered our general approach but have been tactically adjusting our positioning to adapt to the changing market circumstances and opportunities.
The quality of our portfolios is very high and the risk protection we have incorporated to guard against volatility has served us very well in recent weeks. We will continue to be tactical, adapting to the moves in markets. The Investment Committee’s macro positioning more broadly remains on the cautious side.
As the situation in equity markets is extremely fluid with political and economic responses changing on the hour, offering a definitive response or advice to you is difficult. Equity prices are significantly lower than the recent record highs, but the world is also dealing with a series of events that is to unknown to all of us, there may well be further deterioration in equity values in the coming months. Until there is a period of consolidation in global equity markets, and the flow of information from individual companies on the impact of recent events on their business is announced, currently trying to establish valuations for equities is very difficult.
Investors who sell shares now could lock in a ‘paper loss’ and lose the dividend income from Australian companies, which may be more attractive than the returns available on cash and some fixed interest investments, thanks to monetary policy. Then there is the problem of timing a return to the market, that would be “very difficult” given the volatile and uncertain climate. This could lead to missed opportunities that could erode long-term portfolio returns.
There is a lot of debate among market experts on whether it’s too early to start investing. While it’s extremely difficult to pick the bottom of the market, there sure is a lot of fear out there.
Either way, in these times the value of getting investment advice is at its greatest. So if you have any concerns or wish to discuss your portfolio in more detail, get in touch with your Relationship Manager.
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes”. That was Mark Twain’s quote on what we can learn from history, and in the context of the impact of Coronavirus on the stock market, we can look to the past to analyse history and how that might impact on our future.
The world has experienced epidemic cases like Ebola and SARS and MERS before and the reaction to those crises can give us an idea of what impact we might see from COVID2019 as it is officially called.
Some questions in these dire circumstances might be:
At the time of writing this article, the death toll is 1,115 with 45,000 infected, and 28 countries reporting cases. For the most up to date stats, check here.
In the video below, Director Mark Beveridge talks us through the impact of Coronavirus on the stock market and your portfolio.
We are grateful to Nick Maggiulli, a Data Scientist for Ritholtz Wealth Management for some of the charts within this video.
Read his full story here, including stats on other virus outbreaks.
Excerpt here:
“That is why this post will investigate an epidemic’s impact on the market by looking at the returns that occurred immediately before and immediately after that epidemic’s peak. Of course, this will never prove that the market reacted solely because of the epidemic, but it may provide a clearer picture than what prior analyses have shown.
In total, the three modern epidemics discussed (Ebola, SARS, and Swine flu) all coincided with minor declines in global equity markets (-5% to -10% range) that quickly recovered. Note that this is slightly smaller than the -6% to -13% cited in the Citi study quoted earlier despite me cherry-picking the local market tops/bottoms to try and match their narrative.
Any deviation from this cherry-picking strategy and the results are even less noteworthy. For example, Dow Jones Market data found that in 11 out of the 12 epidemics they studied, the S&P 500 was up 6 months after the first case was reported.
Therefore, if we assume that coronavirus will be similar in deadliness to Ebola, SARS, or Swine flu, then I wouldn’t worry about the long term impact on my portfolio.
But, I already know what you’re thinking. What if coronavirus ends up being worse than these modern epidemics?”