FY 2024-25 Budget Reveals Big Wins for Small Business

Image of a gradient background with the text "AUSTRALIAN Federal Budget 2024-25" and a subtitle "Explore how small businesses can take advantage of new stimulus schemes to start growing your business."

Recently updated on July 22nd, 2024 at 10:07 am

The Australian Federal Budget for 2024-25 has revealed huge, national investment in domestic businesses. As part of its Future Made in Australia agenda, the Australian government will implement a string of financial schemes to support the operations of small businesses and ‘priority industries’.

These priority industries will fall under two streams.

  1. The Net Zero Transformation Stream–any industry advancing renewable energy and carbon-reduced operations in Australia.
  2. The Economic Resilience and Security Stream–industries that strengthen domestic supply chains, notably looking at self-sufficiency in manufacturing, construction and IT sectors.

What does all this mean for your business? Some potentially big savings you can take advantage of right now. We’ve summarised the biggest wins below:

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$20k instant asset write-off

For business entities with an aggregated turnover of less than $10 million

The $20,000 instant asset write-off threshold will be extended into the new financial year. This allows eligible businesses to immediately deduct assets under the threshold, up until 30 June 2025. This can cover new shop equipment, appliances, computers–anything intended primarily for business use.

Key criteria:

*Note: this measure is an extension of the increases made in July 2023 and follows the same guidelines and exclusions.

Energy bill relief

Relief payments to ease energy bill costs

The Australian Government has pledged $3.5bn in energy bill relief this budget. This translates to a one-off rebate of $325 to around one million eligible businesses. This is in addition to the $300 domestic rebate also announced.

Eligibility is yet to be confirmed, but will likely follow last year’s simple criteria for bill relief payments. Be sure to check your state or territory energy department for further announcements.

Nuisance tariff removal

Measure to reduce costs for imported goods compliance

The Treasury has announced the planned removal of 457 tariffs on a variety of imported goods. These tariffs have been reviewed and classified as ‘nuisance tariffs’, meaning they have little economic benefit while hurting Australian businesses.

The Treasury has stated this is a move towards “simplifying Australia’s trade system and removing compliance burdens for Australian firms.” I.e. less time wasted on proving compliance and less money lost to import tax. Affected goods range from household necessities to manufacturing supplies.

You can read the full list of abolished tariffs here.

Construction skills training

Fee-free short courses for priority industries

A key part of the Future Made in Australia agenda is the promise of a further 20,000 fee-free TAFE and VET course placements for key skills in the construction industry. This will be rolled out across every state and territory in addition to the 300,000 fee-free short courses already announced.

This includes around 5,000 pre-apprenticeship opportunities, so it’s a perfect time to start upskilling your team or to bring new talent into your workforce. Visit the fee-free TAFE and VET hub to search for relevant courses in your industry.

Priority industries include

Construction

Manufacturing

Defence

Technology & Digital

Talk to Spark, your trusted co-pilot

Our team can launch you to your business goals, no matter the distance.

Continued incentives for renewables

Long-term funding for clean energy & renewable sectors

As one of the major investment streams of its Future Made in Australia agenda, the government has revealed a huge $22.7bn of long-term spending in clean energy and renewable industries. The focus is on bolstering domestic skills and job opportunities in these sectors, which include:

You can read in greater detail how your business can benefit from these incentives in the full 2024-25 budget overview.

Small Business Wins

Funding and support schemes announced for small businesses

Alongside major funding announcements, the Australian Government has also outlined a large number of schemes aimed specifically at supporting small businesses. We’ve summarised the stand-outs below, but you can read through a detailed overview in the official Budget 2024-25 Small Business Fact sheet.

Payment Times Reporting Regulator

An additional $25.3 million in funding to the Payment Times Reporting Regulator will see big benefits for sub-contractors, targeting improvements to payment ICT infrastructure and a greater ability to name and shame slow-paying businesses.

eInvoicing network

$23.3 million has been pledged to the ATO to continue operating the secure eInvoicing network, meaning greater efficiency and protection against payment redirection scams.

Small business helplines

$10.8 million over two years to extend the Small Business Debt Helpline and the NewAccess for Small Business Owners program. These two programs support small business owners through confidential, free-to-access services for financial counselling and tailored mental health coaching.

Paid Parent Leave scheme administration

In line with the expansion of the Paid Parent Leave scheme, there will be a dedicated $10 million in funding to help small businesses administer this scheme.

Franchising Code of Conduct

$3 million over two years will be used to remake the Franchising Code of Conduct, ensuring fairer conditions and better access to dispute resolution in the franchising sector.

Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman

$2.6 million is pledged to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman to support unrepresented small businesses in alternative dispute resolution.

What’s next for the financial year?

This budget has put the accelerator on domestic businesses. Now’s the time to start investing in your company’s future, as it’s unlikely you’ll see the same level of time-limited support schemes again.

But if you’re not sure where to start–that’s ok! The team at Spark are always available to discuss strategy, especially if you’re looking to break into the online market. We’ll help you uncover the opportunities waiting to take your business to the next level.

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