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.
