Federal government grants for your small business

Automotive Transformation Scheme

The Automotive Transformation Scheme aims to alleviate some of the pressure on businesses in the automotive industry by providing financial assistance to car manufacturers, as well as companies associated with the manufacturing process, like component makers and service providers.

Eligible businesses can claim assistance for up to 50% of the value of their investment in R&D and 15% of the value of their investment in price and earnings (P&E).

The scheme will run until December 31, 2020, although the levels of assistance will be phased down over the life of the program.

For eligibility requirements, click here.

Automotive Diversification Program

Businesses in the car industry may also be eligible for grants from the government’s recently announced Automotive Diversification Program, which is designed to help companies in the automotive supply chain diversify their operations.

The program fits within the government’s $155 million Growth Fund to help support individuals, businesses and regions affected by the pending closures of Australian car manufacturers.

Grants of between $50,000 and $1 million are available to compensate companies investing in new capital equipment, with a cap of $1.5 million per successful applicant.

For further details, click here.

Clothing and Household Textile Building Innovative Capability Scheme

These grants were designed for businesses in the manufacturing and design industries, which could receive a grant worth 5% of their revenue in the 12 months before the year the grant was claimed.

However, the government announced in the budget it intends to close the scheme one year ahead of schedule. While the scheme was originally intended to run until 2014-15, with the final payments to be made in 2015-16, we are now in the midst of the final year of the program.

Businesses who registered for the scheme before June 30 this year may still receive assistance. However, the government is no longer accepting new registrations.

Venture Capital Limited Partnerships (VCLP)

This program is aimed at fund managers by providing money for investing in Australian companies, particularly high-risk startups.

To access the benefit, funds need to register as a Venture Capital Limited Partnership, through which they can then access flow-through taxation treatment.

Under the arrangements, investments must be held for a minimum of 12 months and they must be considered “high risk”. At least half of the project and employees must be located in Australia and the project cannot have more than $250 million in assets.

For more information, click here.

Certain Inputs to Manufacture

Businesses that import raw materials or intermediate goods should investigate their eligibility for the government’s Certain Inputs to Manufacture program.

The scheme essentially eliminates import duties for materials and goods needed by Australian companies, which are proven to be of superior quality to goods available in Australia and which will benefit Australian competitiveness.

A lengthy technical assessment is involved but the savings could be significant. For more information, click here.

Grants no longer offered

If you are looking for some of the grants that featured on SmartCompany’s list last year, it could very well be that the schemes have closed.

The Accelerated Australian Apprenticeships scheme, which helped employers pay for projects that provided attractive pathways for apprentices, is no longer available, and the current government has decided to discontinue the Clean Technology Innovation and Investment grants offered by the former Labor government and tied to the carbon tax.

While some schemes have already closed, in other cases, there are still businesses scheduled to receive payments as the program wind down.

A list of grant programs no longer open to new applications is available here.

Tomorrow, SmartCompany will bring you the best state grants on offer for small business.