The Coalition Government today released exposure draft legislation and explanatory material for public consultation on integrity improvements to the small business capital gains tax (CGT) concessions.
We are committed to supporting small businesses and helping them invest and grow through tax cuts and initiatives such as the $20,000 instant asset write-off, which we extended for a further 12 months to 30 June 2018 in last year's Budget.
The small business CGT concessions measure was announced in the Budget as part of our tax integrity package. It will ensure that these important concessions continue to benefit those who need them most, hard-working small businesses.
These concessions will continue to be available to genuine small business taxpayers with an aggregated turnover of less than $2 million or business assets less than $6 million.
Under the proposed amendments, from 1 July 2017, the small business CGT concessions can only be accessed in relation to assets used in a small business or ownership interests in a small business.
This is an integrity rule designed to prevent taxpayers from accessing these concessions for assets which are unrelated to their small business, such as by arranging their affairs so that their ownership interests in larger businesses do not count towards the tests for determining eligibility for the concessions.
The exposure draft legislation and explanatory material are available on the Treasury website. Interested stakeholders are encouraged to provide their views by Wednesday, 28 February 2018.
Submissions can be emailed to SBCGTintegrity@treasury.gov.au during the consultation period.