Another week...another budget? What!?

Another week, another budget? Yep! This time, it’s the Victorian Government’s turn to put forward their budget for 2023/24 and there are a few important changes. Let’s have a little goosey at a few areas that might be relevant to you.  

COVID 19 Debt Repayment Plan

The COVID 19 Debt Repayment Plan has been introduced to help manage the debt and increase revenue that the government is taking up. This includes a “debt levy” which will see a few changes:

• Increased land taxes
• Increased payroll tax for businesses in Australia who have wages above $10 million dollars and $100 million respectively.

Land Tax Changes

A few yep. The tax free threshold for land tax rates is dipping from $300,000 to $50,000, so quite a significant change here. This means there will be a lot more land and property owners who now fall into this category and will have to pay land tax.  

For landholdings between $50,000 and $100,000 a fixed charge of $500 will be rolled out. For those between $100,000 and $300,000 a fixed charge of $975 will come.  

For those above $300,000 the tax rate will increase by $975 PLUS 0.1% of the taxable value of the land.  

Your primary residence will still be exempt from this however.  

The government expects 860,000 landowners will be affected by this change.  

Payroll Tax

Payroll tax, which is a tax paid by employers with $700k in wages or higher has some changes in this budget and there's a win for small business here.

The tax free threshold for payroll tax will be lifted from $700,000 to $900,000, with the government expecting around 4,200 businesses to benefit from this change come July 1, 2024 when it’s introduced.

This will increase again from July 1, 2025 to $1million.  

However, for big businesses, the change is the other way around. For those with a national payroll over $10million will pay more on payroll tax.

There will be a 0.5% hike on those with a $10mil payroll, while those above $100mil will pay 1% more on their payroll tax from July 1.  

Stamp Duty

The old stamp duty. The government have proposed that it be abolished on commercial and industrial properties, replaced with an annual property tax. This is planned from July 1 2024 and will be 1% of the properties land value.  

So there’s a nice little quick snapshot of just a few things that may concern you. Of course, there’s plenty more in the full budget release, which you can find right HERE.  

Need some questions answered, no problem! Find us at admin@illumin8.com.au or shoot your accountant a cheeky email!  

TLDR (To Long Didn’t Read!) Summary

Land taxes are increasing, depending on the value of the land.  Payroll tax is increasing for big business over $10mil, but the tax threshold is increasing for small business lowering the tax they pay on payroll.