July 1 changes for small businesses

From higher wages, higher bills, rising interest rates and inflation, there are many things posing challenges to small businesses right now.

If you run a small business, here are the changes coming through from July 1 you should stay on top of:

• National Minimum wage rises 5.2% - this is from $20.33 an hour to $21.38 an hour, which comes to an extra $40 a week
   
• Award minimum wage increases - those Australians covered under a modern award, will see this increase by 4.6%. Those who earn more than $869.60 a week will get a 4.6% increase, while those earning less than that amount will get $40 more a week.
  
  People covered under the aviation, hospitality or tourism industry awards will see their pay increases start from October 1, 2022.
   
• Energy price rise

Electricity bills will get bigger from July 1 onwards. The default market offer (DMO), which is the price cap that the energy regulator (AER) implements to stop power companies charging whatever they want, will rise for residents and small businesses alike in NSW, Victoria, south-east Queensland, and South Australia.

Small businesses stand to pay between $270 and $1146 extra a year on power bills. Now’s the time to shop around for a better deal!

• Registering a business?

If you’re doing this for the first time or reserving a business name or deregistering your company the fees are going up.

• Superannuation

The superannuation guarantee (SG) or the minimum rate of superannuation that employers must pay to their employees, will rise from 10 % to 10.5% from July 1, 2022. This will keep rising by 0.5% every year until it hits 12% on July 1, 2027.

• $450 superannuation eligibility threshold scrapped

Until now, those who earned less than $450 a month were not entitled to superannuation payments from their employer. This ceiling was removed on July 1, 2022, meaning employers must pay superannuation regardless of how much an employee earns that month. However, this only applies to adults. Employees below the age of 18 will only receive superannuation if they work more than 30 hours a week.

How we can help

TaxAssist Accountants can help with Year End Accounts, Tax Returns, Bookkeeping, BAS Returns, and Payroll, as well as Cashflow Projections, Superannuation, Business Plans, Employment Law, Debt Recovery, Capital Gains Tax and Audits and more.

Give us a call on 03 8594 1811 or fill in our enquiry form and we can set up a free initial consultation and discuss our services in more detail.

Date published 9 Jul 2022 | Last updated 9 Jul 2022