A taxing question: Does the tax system work for small business?

For the majority of small businesses the taxation system is cumbersome, problematic and unnecessarily time consuming. There isn’t much about it that appeals to the two million plus number of small businesses in Australia.

Quarterly GST reporting is both time consuming, expensive and frustrating, while the yearly change in the rules from the Australian Tax Office leaves many small businesses bamboozled and needing both taxation and legal advice to know what they need to now take into consideration with reference to superannuation, employee benefits, penalty rates and the like.

Inconsistent rules

“Small businesses get many benefits under the current federal income laws, however, the problem is that there are inconsistent rules to determine in what circumstances the concessions are available,” Professor Robert Deutsch, senior tax counsel at The Tax Institute, says.

“Thus, some concessions are available if the entity in question meets the definition of ‘small business entity’, some if they meet the definition of ‘CGT small business entity’, some if they meet the definition of ‘base-rate entity’. Read more