In addition to the recent Federal Government announcements, the State Governments have announced a range of tax relief measures in relation to COVID-19. A summary of these measures is outlined below
Payroll Tax
Victoria
- Waiver for entire 2019-20 financial year for all businesses with annual taxable wages of up to $3 million
- Refunds of payroll tax already paid this financial year for businesses with annual taxable wages of up to $3 million.
- Those same businesses will also be able to defer any payroll tax for the first three months of the 2020-21 financial year until 1 January 2021.
New South Wales
- Waiver for three months (the rest of 2019-20 financial year) for all businesses with total Australian Group Wages of up to $10 million
- Increase in the payroll tax threshold from $900,000 to $1 million brought forward to 1 July 2020.
Queensland
- Deferral until 3 August 2020 for approved applicants.
Western Australia
- Deferral until 21 July 2020 for approved applicants with $7.5 million or less in annual Australian taxable wages.
- A one-off grant of $17,500 to businesses with annual Australian taxable wages between $1 million and $4 million.
- Increase in the payroll tax threshold to from $950,000 to $1 million brought forward to 1 July 2020.
Tasmania
- Waiver for hospitality, tourism and seafood industry businesses for the rest of the 2019-20 financial year.
- Waiver from April to June 2020 for other approved applicants with annual Australian Group Wages of up to $5 million.
South Australia + ACT + Northern Territory
- No announcements to date. Refer state government websites
Land Tax
Victoria
Deferral until after 30 June 2020 for land owners that have at least one non-residential property and total taxable landholdings below $1 million.
Other States
No specific announcements have been made by the other states at this time
Government Self Isolation Directive & Employee Wages
Who pays the employee if they are under a Government Imposed 14 Day Self Isolation?
There is a directive from the Government that if an employee is under self-isolation then they could access their leave. Despite some confusion, Fair Work Australia have now updated their website to conform with this Government directive. The situation is that if an employee has to self-isolate due a Government imposed directive then they are able to use leave that is available to them.
For an employer this means that if an employee has to self-isolate they can use sick leave and the employer does not have to pay the employee as “ordinary” hours. If the employee runs out of sick leave then the employee can be paid as annual leave.
For the employee this means that if somebody has to self-isolate they use up their sick leave first then their annual leave and then any long service leave (if any).
