Access to certain simplified accounting methods for food retailers with an annual turnover of between $1 million and $2 million, originally intended only as a transitional arrangement, will now be made a permanent feature of the New Tax System.
I made this announcement tonight in an address to the first National Small Business Summit.
The necessary exclusion of some food from the GST base, required by the Democrats to ensure passage of the tax package, would have imposed a difficult compliance burden on food retailers.
It is for that reason that the simplified accounting methods were introduced for retail food businesses such as milk bars, bakeries, sandwich shops and convenience stores at the commencement of the GST.
The threshold turnover for eligibility for these simplified methods was set at $1 million per annum. As a transitional measure, businesses with a turnover threshold between $1 million and $2 million were given access to the 'snapshot' and the 'analysis of purchases' simplified accounting method for the first year of the new system.
I was very pleased to announce tonight that the $2 million threshold is to be retained as a permanent feature of the New Tax System. The lifting of this threshold will ensure that the time and paperwork savings that these simplified methods allow will continue to be available for eligible retailers.
The Commissioner of Taxation will provide further details of this announcement in a media statement tomorrow.
27 March 2001