Budget delivers digital gains for Australia's SMEs

MYOB, a leading provider of business management tools, has congratulated the Federal Government for its prioritisation of widespread digital adoption in the 2021 Budget and the growth opportunities this will represent for small business.

Leading up to Budget, the Federal Government announced a suite of measures to turbo charge Australia’s digitisation across all areas of the economy.

MYOB’s Chief Employee Experience Officer Helen Lea commended the Government for its focus on achieving Australia’s status as a leading digital economy by 2030.

“The Digital Economy Strategy will drive substantial economic gains for Australia, with solid investment in areas we know will make a difference for the digitalisation of SMEs. We particularly applaud the investment in e-invoicing as a tool that will yield great productivity returns and shorter payment times for small business.

“We encourage the Government to take further measures to address the growing digital divide among Australian SMEs. Our economic modelling shows us one in five SMEs have no or very low levels of digitisation, which equates to half a million Australian small businesses who are not online. This is life threatening for these businesses as the nation makes leaps and bounds to digitise.

“We have proposed to Government that a tax incentive would help SMEs overcome barriers to adoption and allow them to concentrate on the benefits afforded by digitisation. With small businesses contributing 35% of Australia’s economy, we see this as an essential step to assist these businesses in entering the digital ecosystem.”

Following tonight’s Federal Budget announcements, MYOB says the extension of successful recovery measures announced in the 2020 Budget, including temporary full expensing, loss carry back and the SME recovery loan scheme will be welcome news to SMEs.

“Our recent survey of 1000 SMEs found six in 10 owners and operators expect the economy to improve in the next 12 months. Key to this is that they are afforded the opportunity to recover effectively. Extending these vital measures will give SMEs the confidence to invest in themselves and in turn create jobs for Australians,” said Ms. Lea.

“Additionally, measures presented in tonight’s Budget that allow for more discretionary spending by consumers is very positive news for small business. More money in the hip pocket of Australians translates to more money in the till for small business.”

“We acknowledge the Government’s continued support for small business and look forward to seeing further action, particularly to move the dial on digitisation. This will be the ultimate trigger that will see the SME economy recover and flourish,” said Ms. Lea.

MYOB calls out the following core themes as wins for small business:

Investment in digitisation

●      e-invoicing adoption and education: the $15.3m set aside to drive awareness and adoption of e-invoicing is a very welcome step forward.

●      Investment in digital skills: the $100 million designed to support the digital skills and cyber workforce pipeline will assist Australia in safeguarding its future as an innovation nation.

●      Intangible asset incentives: offering Australian businesses a means of depreciating intellectual property and in-house software will be beneficial to Australia’s technology sector.

Investment in SME recovery and growth

●      ATO debt recovery pause capability: allowing SMEs with less than $10m turnover to apply directly to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to pause or modify their ATO debt recovery actions.

●      Temporary full expensing and loss carry back: the extension of temporary full expensing and loss carry-back will provide an additional $20.7 billion in tax relief over the forward estimates to support business investment and create jobs expensing for an additional year until 30 June 2023.

Setting the economy up for SME success

●      Tax cuts: the $7.8 billion in saving afforded by tax cuts for Australians will mean more money in the hip pockets of families, equating to more discretionary spending for SMEs.

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For more information please contact:

Collette Betts, MYOB, AU Corporate Affairs Manager
M: 0406 947 551 / E: [email protected]

Selina Ife, MYOB, Communications Consultant
M: 0488 044 237 / E: [email protected]

About MYOB

MYOB is a leading business platform with a core purpose of helping more businesses in Australia and New Zealand start, survive and succeed. 

MYOB delivers end-to-end business, financial and accounting solutions direct to businesses employing between 0 and 1000 employees, alongside a network of accountants, bookkeepers and consultants.

For more information visit myob.com or follow @MYOB on Twitter.