New Websites – Claim 120%
Did you get a new website in the 2022_23 financial year? If so, the Australian Tax Office will allow a 120% deduction.
The Australian Federal Government has introduced this as part of their $1.5 billion tax incentives to supercharge Australia’s small and medium businesses. They hope the tax incentives will support small and medium businesses to train and upskill employees and improve their digital and tech capacity. You can read the government’s press release here.
What does this mean for your business’s new website? Let’s say it costs you $2,000 for a new website. Usually you would claim $2,000 as a business expense. If this was an expense in the 2022_23 financial year you will be able to claim $2,400 🙂.
We spoke with qualified accountant and registered tax agent Stuart Thorpe. Stuart has worked in the accounting and taxation industry for over 20 years.
The Small Business Technology Business Boost provides an incentive for small businesses to invest in digital assets and services. It does this by allowing an additional 20% of these expenses to be deducted against business income. Put simply it means you can claim 120% of the digital expense. The expense must have occurred between 7.30pm on 29 March 2022 and 30 June 2023 to be claimed in the 2023 financial year.
This provides a “boost” to businesses if they would like to start, maintain or improve and upgrade their use of digital technology. It covers the cost of new or improved websites as well as implementation of e-commerce platforms for online booking and payments on such websites. Online advertising costs such as Google or Facebook ads, as well as subscriptions to email marketing platforms, can take advantage of the boost as well.
Practice and Project Management software can be claimed, in fact any software that seeks to digitise the daily operations of a business are claimable. With Cyber Security being a topic in the news constantly, any expenses related to this will be covered. This would include the cost of consultations with specialists in this area and any related software and hardware required to achieve the security goals.
While not all businesses will have incurred expenses in every category, almost all will have had expenses in one or more and the extra 20% deduction should not be missed out on.
What Types of Deductions to Look Out For
To get this deduction you’ll need to categorise your expenses as digital for your accountant to claim the additional 20%. Look out for the following types of invoices
- Computer hardware, eg. laptops, desktops, keyboards and peripherals
- Internet
- Website development and maintenance
- E-commerce
- Subscriptions to cloud services
- Cyber security
- Google advertising
- Facebook advertising
- Software subscriptions
For further information refer to the Australian Tax Office article here.
Disclaimer
The above information is of a general nature and should not be relied upon without consultation with your accountant or tax advisor with regard to your specific circumstances.