Get the most out of the 2020-21 Budget for your hospitality business

It’s certainly no secret that the hospitality industry has been one of the (if not THE) most affected industries from the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns, patron restrictions and the like have wreaked absolute havoc on a lot of bars, pubs, restaurants and hotels/motels alike, which is why hospitality was as much of a focus in this year’s Budget the Government released a few days ago.

For those operating a hospitality business, you’ll be happy to know that there are some great benefits to help you, your business and staff. Here are some of the major elements of the FY20-21 Budget that are related to the hospitality industry.

FY20-21 Budget features that benefit the hospitality industry

JobMaker Scheme

A rather important piece of the pie, the JobMaker scheme gives business owners a cash incentive to employ younger staff members (16-35). That is, $200 per week for hiring an employee aged between 16-29 and $100 a week to hire an employee aged 30-35. This will help businesses such as cafes and restaurants ensure they have ample staff on during the journey back to business-as-usual operations.

JobTrainer Program

The Government announced that they will be spending $1.2 billion on what they’ve dubbed ‘JobTrainer’, a program that will subsidise up to 50% of the wages of 100,000 new or recommencing apprentices and trainees (capped at $7,000/quarter) up to the end of September 2021. This is a great way to help struggling hotels and restaurants as well as apprentices and trainees themselves.

Loss carry-backs

Any business with an annual turnover of up to $5 billion is able to offset any losses they’ve seen from the time COVID-19 began to June 2022 inclusive against tax that was paid from profits made from the 2018-19 financial year when putting in their tax returns either next year or the year after. That is, if you’ve seen a loss in profits due to COVID-19, you may be eligible to get back some of the tax you paid in the last couple of years.

Immediate deduction for eligible assets

For businesses with a turnover of up to $50 million annually, you can immediately deduct any new or secondhand asset (of any value) provided you purchase before 31 December 2020 and it’s been installed/used prior to June 2022. The same applies for businesses whose annual revenue falls between $50 million and $500 million, however the asset value is capped at $150,000.

Should your business fall within an annual revenue of between $500 million and up to $5 billion, while you’re ineligible for an instant deduction of secondhand assets you’re still able to purchase an eligible new business-related asset (no cap) and claim a deduction immediately.

Further to this, any business operating at or below $5 billion annual revenue can make improvements to existing depreciable business assets and claim what’s been spent immediately, too.

There are many other benefits to the 2020-21 Budget - this article provides some more detail to help you understand it all a bit better.

Finance a new commercial vehicle and equipment today

If you’re ready to take advantage of this year’s Budget announcements, we’re here to help! With over 20 years in the finance industry, we’ve worked with countless hospitality business owners to secure the perfect finance deals available to them and are here to do exactly the same for you.

Whether your restaurant’s kitchen is in need of some essential commercial equipment upgrades, you’ve been considering a new commercial vehicle such as a delivery van or you’re thinking of buying any other business-related asset out there, give the Stratton Finance team a call now on 1300 787 288.

If you’d prefer, you can use our online contact form to send us an enquiry and we’ll be sure to respond to you ASAP. We’re always happy to answer any questions you may have for us, so get in touch today!