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ATO offers guidance on proposed asset deductibility scheme

Regulation

The ATO has published guidance on the government’s proposal to allow small business an immediate deduction for each asset they buy costing less than $20,000.

By Michael Masterman 8 minute read

The scheme, announced in last week’s federal Budget, will apply to small businesses with a turnover of less than $2 million dollars and will back-date eligibility to Budget night, 12 May 2015.

ATO deputy commissioner Steve Vesperman cautioned small businesses and their advisers that the tax office will be monitoring closely claims made under the new scheme.

“The ATO will be working with small businesses looking to use the immediate deduction to ensure they are appropriately claiming it,” he said. “We will be monitoring claims of this nature and following up on high risk cases."

In an information alert released last week, the ATO warned that rules around asset eligibility do not change under the proposed scheme.

“That is if an asset was eligible for immediate deductibility under the current $1,000 it will continue to be deductible under the new $20,000 threshold.”

To ensure the proposal operates as intended, the tax office said it will engage with small businesses based on their behaviour and choices.

“This will include providing clear guidance so that businesses intending to utilise the provisions find it as easy as possible to do so," the ATO said.

“If small businesses exhibit behaviours that indicate a high level of risk, they can expect a higher level of interaction with the ATO. The ATO has a risk-based program to identify taxpayers that are not meeting their obligations and will take measured approaches to influence taxpayer behaviour."

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