Small Business Technology Investment Boost and Small Business Skills and Training Boost

Both boosts have ended. This post was written while they were still announcements. They became law on 23 June 2023, and the windows have since closed: the Technology Investment Boost covered expenditure to 30 June 2023, the Skills and Training Boost to 30 June 2024. Neither can be claimed on new spending. Amending an earlier return to claim one is generally out of time too – the amendment period for those income years was two years, the four-year period applying only from 2024-25 – so ask us before assuming a past year is still open.

As part of the 2022–23 Budget, the Government announced it will support small business through the following new measures – Small Business Technology Investment Boost and Small Business Skills and Training Boost. Both were legislated by the Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 4) Act 2023, which received royal assent on 23 June 2023 – seven days before the technology boost stopped accepting expenditure.

_Small Business Technology Investment Boost_

Subject to law, small businesses (with aggregated annual turnover of less than $50 million) are able to deduct an additional 20 per cent of the expenditure incurred for the purposes of business digital operations or digitising its operations on business expenses and depreciating assets such as portable payment devices, cyber security systems or subscriptions to cloud based services.

Businesses may continue to deduct expenditure that is ineligible for the bonus deduction under the existing tax law.

An annual $100,000 cap on expenditure will apply to each qualifying income year. Businesses can continue to deduct expenditure over $100,000 under existing law.

This measure will apply to expenditure incurred in the period commencing from 7:30 pm AEDT 29 March 2022 until 30 June 2023.

_Small Business Skills and Training Boost_

Subject to law, small businesses with an aggregated annual turnover of less than $50 million are able to deduct an additional 20% of expenditure that is incurred for the provision of eligible external training courses to their employees by registered providers in Australia. Businesses may continue to deduct expenditure that is ineligible for the bonus deduction in accordance with the existing tax law.

This measure will apply to expenditure incurred in the period commencing from 7:30 pm AEDT 29 March 2022 until 30 June 2024.