The Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia has welcomed the Coalition’s plans for the Tax Office to process superannuation payments on behalf of small business, dubbing the proposal the “first real removal of red tape for the sector in memory.”
Under plans set to be announced today, the Coalition will propose allowing small businesses to transfer its entire employee entitlements to the Australian Taxation Office, which will then distribute the payments to the relevant super funds.
COSBOA executive director Peter Strong told SmartCompany the proposal will save SMEs time, effort and money.
“It’s so sensible; there are no losers,” Strong says. “We’ve been pushing this for years.”
Strong says while the Government’s existing superannuation clearing house is a “good thing”, it is not easy to engage, and the retailers and hospitality businesses that are most suited to it are simply too busy to give it a try.
The Government says the system is free, simple to use, and available to businesses with fewer than 20 employees. As of 3 June, 4,356 employers had registered with the clearing house, around 28,855 employees have been added to the system and 84,025 employee payments have been made, it says.
Strong says he spends about three or four hours on superannuation payments per quarter on his own business.
“People would say that’s not much, but it’s my time,” Strong says, adding these hours add up when chasing up staff members, dealing with super funds and updating for staff turnover.
“Super is one of the biggest problems when employing somebody: who are they a member of, and becoming a kind of financial adviser by having a default fund in place.”
But Small Business Minister Nick Sherry says if the Coalition really cared about small business, he’d stop “mindlessly opposing our tax cuts for two million small businesses”.
“Today’s announcement by Tony Abbott is just more empty and hollow words, which can’t be believed,” Sherry said.
According to reports, Abbott will today tell a Sydney audience that the plan is a “practical measure” to help reduce the “increasing red-tape burden.”
“The Coalition is always looking for ways to help small business get ahead, because that’s where jobs are created,” Abbott will say.
“For small business men and women, less paperwork means higher profits, boosted sales and more time with the family.”
Smart Company is the leading online publication in Australia for free news, information and resources catering to Australia’s entrepreneurs, small and medium business owners and business managers.
