Sydney-Bookkeeping.Com.Au

The Rudd Government is telling everyone how the new stimulus package is helping small businesses with the Small Business and General Business Tax Break.

The package is such that small businesses can claim a bonus 50 per cent tax deduction for eligible assets costing more than $1,000 acquired from 13 December 2008 until 31 December 2009, and installed ready for use by 31 December 2010.

To benefit from this Tax Break a small business must have a turnover of less than $2.0 million a year.

Forget the tax break, shop at your locally owned store

This may look good on paper, but unless you actually need to make any investment in capital purchases such as motor vehicles or equipment, how does it actually help small business?

It certainly helps large businesses – the suppliers of motor vehicles, national stationary / office equipment suppliers, hardly normal electical chain stores and the like, but how does it help you, the small business owner in Robina or Burleigh?

Speaking to an accountant of one of our bookkeeping clients recently, he said that whilst the incentive looks very rosy, you should actually look at the costs involved in the purchase of a new vehicle.

“Ha Ha !! You don’t believe what the Government tells you, do you!!!”

Taking all things into consideration for this particular client, the client was going to be worse off purchasing a new vehicle compared to finding a cheaper second-hand vehicle

We asked our accountant about reducing the PAYG for this quarter – after receiving notification from the ATO that the quarterly payment had been increased.

“You can’t” replied the accountant – But what about the Government telling us that they’re reducing the PAYG installments to help small business?
“Ha Ha !! You don’t beleive what the Government tells you, do you!!!”

Many small business owners are understandably looking to save money wherever they can, believing that’s the only way that they can increase their income. Yet at the sametime, they also want to increase their turnover by attracting more customers or upselling existing customers.

Why do small business owners have a problem with supporting other small-to-medium enterprises?

Many of our bookkeeping clients take their shopper dockets from the major supermarkets, to get discount fuel, rather than paying a few cents more (perhaps) for fuel from independent service station operators.

The same clients buy all their fruit and vegetables, meat and other groceries from the large supermarket chains instead of supporting small independent green-grocers or butchers

Why do small-to-medium enterprises complain that your potential customers are going to the large companies or multi-nationals instead of shopping from you? Maybe we should stop pointing the finger at other people, and start asking ourselves, why do small businesses have a problem trading with other small businesses?

Do large companies really care about the local Campbelltown or Bankstown business owner? Not when the head office is overseas

The positive effect on the local economy would be far wider reaching than all of those small business owners that continue to support large companies who are only interested in making huge profits for their shareholders (many of whom are large multi-nationals themselves).

Go shopping at your local independantly owned business, take business away from large corporations and bring back competition to the market place – you’ll be helping the local econmy which will in-turn help your smal business