To facilitate continued growth of the Australian economy and allow small businesses to remain competitive in the global market place, it is important both Federal and State governments invest money into small and medium sized businesses. One-way governments approach this, is through the provision of Government Grants. Grants are funding provided by the government to facilitate business development in one or more areas. We have summarised our top 3 grants for small businesses.
Small Business Grant
The small business grant is a NSW government grant which pays businesses $2,000 for any new full time or equivalent employment positions the business provides. To be eligible:
- The employer must not be registered for payroll tax
- The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees increases and is maintained over 12 months
- The new employment commenced after 1 July 2015 and before 1 July 2019.
In short, if your business has increased the number of employees since July 2015 you may be eligible.
R&D Tax Incentive
If your business turnover is less than $20 million per year, you could be eligible for a cash benefit via the Research and Development tax incentive. This incentive program provides a 43.5% refundable tax offset for business who engage in eligible R&D business operations. R&D activities are defined by the ATO as ‘experimental activities’ – this is a broad term which many small to medium sized business may not realise they have activities that fit this description.
Export Market Development Grant
The Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) scheme is an Australian Government financial assistance program that helps small to medium sized businesses develop export markets by reimbursing up to 50% of eligible export promotion expenses. Expenses that can be claimed include overseas representation, marketing consultant expenses, free sample expenses, trade fairs & seminars, overseas buyer’s expenses, eligible intellectual property expenses. The expenses must be at least $15,000 and the grant is capped at $150,000.
There are plenty of ways you can get assistance with your grant application to make the process as simple and easy as possible. If you’re interested in finding out more about Government Grants that could be applicable for your business, please contact your Allan Hall adviser.
This article was written by Cale Bulgin.