WA Stimulus Package

The West Australian Government has announced an economic stimulus package to stave off the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.

Household Fees & Charges

A freeze will be placed on household fees and charges, including electricity, water, motor vehicle charges, the emergency services levy and public transport fares, so that there will be no increase in the fee and charges amounts until at least 1 July 2021.

Energy Assistance Package

The Energy Assistance Package (EAP) in 2020-21 will provide additional support to vulnerable Western Australians by increasing the payment from $300 to $600 for eligible concession card-holders.

Payroll Tax

Businesses paying payroll tax with a payroll between $1 million and $4 million will receive a one-off grant of $17,500. For a group of employers, a single grant will be payable to the designated group employer.

You do not need to apply for the grant. Grants will automatically be paid by cheque from July but there will be delays for taxpayers whose tax status changed in 2018-19 or who became liable for payroll tax during the 2018-19 or 2019-20 assessment year. Eligible taxpayers should log in to Revenue Online to ensure their postal address is correct.

The payroll tax threshold was previously lifted from $850,000 to $950,000, with an increase to $1 million scheduled for January 2021. This will now happen six months earlier, on 1 July 2020. This will result in approximately an additional 300 businesses no longer being liable for payroll tax. The threshold increase will be reflected in Revenue Online when it comes into effect.

Application for a deferral up to 21 July 2020 is available for monthly payroll tax payments for employers who pay $7.5 million or less in Australian taxable wages and have been directly or indirectly impacted by COVID-19, compared to normal operating conditions.

Application for deferral can be done using the following form and submitted through a web enquiry:

https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/application-defer-payroll-tax-covid-19

Public Sector Leave

If you work in WA’s public sector, you will benefit from the introduction of 20 days paid COVID-19 leave.

The paid leave will also be extended to casual workers.

The leave will be available for workers who:

• Have contracted the virus themselves
• Need to self-isolate because of the virus
• Need to care for family due to school or childcare closures, or
• Are otherwise unable to attend work due to the virus

This is a special leave entitlement available in addition to regular sick leave.

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GeersSullivan Safety Measures COVID-19

To our valued clients

We want you to know that we take the health and safety of our Clients and Team very seriously at GeersSullivan. We would like to reassure you that we remain vigilant following the advice of the Australian Department of Health and will continue to monitor their advice and act immediately in accordance with their rulings and guidance.

To date, there has been no incidence of COVID-19 within our Team or members of their households.  We have instituted measures to mitigate unnecessary risk to ensure that we can continue to deliver a high level of service to you and support you through this uncertain time.

These measures include:

• The ability for our whole Accounting Team to work from home.  All of our applications including our phone system are cloud based, so we have the ability to provide an uninterrupted service that is not dependent on one physical location.
• For any Team Members working in our office, to adhere to Department of Health guideline practices like hand washing, sneezing/coughing etiquette and social distancing.
• The use of Video Conferencing applications in order to continue to meet with you if you cannot or would prefer not to have a face to face meeting.
• Educating employees on important prevention measures via up-to-the-minute internal communications.
• Requesting our Team to avoid any person with cold or flu-like symptoms.
• Thorough and regular disinfecting of all hard surfaces including doors, handles, desks, keyboards, monitors and phones.
• All meeting rooms will be thoroughly cleaned after each meeting.
• Limiting visits to our office to clients and team members only.
• Signage outside of our office advising of all measures being taken by our office to maintain health and safety and conditions for anyone entering our office – e.g. the requirement to use disinfecting hand wash before entering our office, acknowledgement by those entering that they have not been in contact with anyone exhibiting any cold of flu-like symptoms, that they or any member of their household have not had any requirement or reason to self-isolate under Australian Department of Health guidelines.

The health and safety of our Team and of our Clients is paramount to us.  We value and appreciate your continued support and want you to know we are available to speak with you at any time to provide support to you and your business during these challenging times.

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