Payroll tax relief is one of several initiatives aimed at helping Tasmanian businesses announced in today’s Budget.

The Treasurer and Minister for Economic Development, Michael Aird, said the new payroll tax rebate will apply to any new positions created from today until 30 June 2010.

“This initiative is designed to encourage Tasmanian employers to support new jobs at a time when employment is under threat due to the impacts of the global financial crisis,” Mr Aird said.

“The Government is committed to supporting Tasmanian businesses because they are the backbone of the economy and when they thrive so does the rest of the Tasmanian community.

“The rebate will be payable to any business that has a payroll tax liability, but will only be payable where the new job that is created is maintained.”

Mr Aird said eligible employers will be required to declare their total taxable wages, including wages paid to new employees, in payroll tax returns and to pay the tax by the due date. A rebate equivalent to the full payroll tax liability on wages paid to an eligible employee in 2009-10 and 2010-11 will then be paid.

“This measure is estimated to cost $2.0 million in 2009-10,” he said.

“The Government appreciates that the payment of payroll tax can be an issue when creating new jobs, especially for small business and especially in the current difficult economic times”.

Mr Aird also announced today that duty on agreements for sale will be abolished from 1 July 2009.

“This will simplify the treatment of duty on conditional and off the plan sales.

“As duty will only be payable at the time of the transfer of property, taxpayers will benefit by not being required to pay duty before taking possession of the property, which can currently occur where an agreement is entered into well before the transfer date.”

Mr Aird said that the change will provide considerable benefits in terms of reducing compliance costs.

“The Government has listened to advice from the business community that duty payable on agreements for sale can act as a disincentive for development during the current challenging economic climate,” he said.

“The impact on revenue in the long-term will be negligible as duty will still be required to be paid.

“From 1 July 2009, ongoing tax relief measures provided by the Tasmanian Government since the 2001-02 Budget will combine to deliver more than $200 million per annum in recurrent tax relief to Tasmanian businesses and households.

“The Government’s Interim Fiscal Strategy continues the commitment of no new taxes and no increase in the rate of existing taxes.”

These two tax initiatives are part of a broader package of industry support, including:

• Tasmanian Trainee and Apprentice Incentive Scheme – continuation of the payroll tax rebate on wages paid to employees and apprentices to ensure that Tasmania has the skilled employees necessary to grow our economy and meet the needs of industry
• Tasmanian Industry Support Scheme – providing financial support for sustainable private sector businesses, which are otherwise at risk of closure or significant downsizing, or are experiencing an impaired investment capacity, as a result of the global financial crisis.
• Business On-line Services – $751,000 to provide an online one-stop-shop to help Tasmanian businesses find and save personal information about their regulatory obligations, subscribe to updates and complete transactions through a seamless whole-of-government approach.
• Enterprise Growth Program – $325,000 (as part of a $4 million program) to continue to help Tasmanian businesses identify, evaluate and invest in projects or activities that will significantly improve their performance and productivity
• Farm Water Development Loan Scheme – the provision of low interest loans to farmers to support the uptake of best practice irrigation infrastructure and associated on farm water storage.

“These initiatives are all about keeping Tasmanians in jobs,” Mr Aird said.