TAX, PROCUREMENT TOP SME WISH LIST FOR GOVERNMENT – BUSINESS MONITOR

*Instant asset tax write-off, GST/BAS compliance and govt procurement

*Almost half of SMEs on the fence with Fed Govt satisfaction

*QLD, SA, WA dissatisfied with State Governments

The latest MYOB Business Monitor has placed the “temporary” $20,000 instant asset tax write off at the top of SME’s wish list for Government.

The bi-annual national survey of over 1,000 small businesses asked what policies operators would vote for or against and keeping the write-off for businesses under $2m in revenue was Number One with a whopping 68 per cent supporting it.

MYOB Tim Reed called for the policy to become a permanent fixture:

“It’s such an important policy for business wanting to kick-start their growth. We’re seeing a real buzz in the start-up community and this will only help that become a roar.

“Next on the policy list was that old chestnut – making GST and BAS compliance simpler.  This has been an issue for SMEs for years now. It’s a relatively simple move which has strong support, with 66 per cent saying they would vote for this change.  It’s time we got on with this so SMEs can get on with the business of growth, which benefits us all.

“SMEs were also keen to see government supporting them in an entirely different way – 61 per cent wanted Government to assign a proportion of their billions in procurement contacts to small business,” Mr Reed said.

The Business Monitor also found the following measures has strong support:

• Reducing the company tax rate from 30% to 28.5% - 60%
• The establishment of an incentive bonus for business employing people over 50 – 59%
• Increased Federal Government funding for skills, training and apprenticeship programs – 57%
• More Federal Government investment in transport infrastructure in our major States and cities – 56%
• Increased Government funding for innovation, research and development by Australian businesses – 55%
• Offering a wage subsidy for employing young Australians – 51%

MYOB CEO Tim Reed said that with almost half of SMEs sitting on the fence when it comes to their view of the Federal Government, opportunity is knocking for policy change.

“Just 22 per cent were satisfied with the Government’s performance and 33 per cent dissatisfied. There were, however, 44 per cent who were neither.

“The Government has the chance here to make some major inroads with Australia’s 2.1 million SME operators, who also employ millions more – that’s a LOT of voters. These Business Monitor results have shown us just what will make that difference.”

The Business Monitor asked operators about their level of support for State Government. Dissatisfaction overall was 40 per cent, but there were some marked differences between the states.

Queensland operators were the most dissatisfied with their State Government (51 per cent), followed by South Australia and Western Australia both with 50 per cent dissatisfaction.

This was in sharp contrast to Victoria and New South Wales, with 29 and 37 per cent respectively.

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For further comment or other information please contact:

Saba Chowdhury, PR Manager, MYOB

M: 61 400 300 913 / E: saba.chowdhury@myob.com

Georgia Colahan, Senior Account Executive, Ogilvy PR

P: 02 8437 5384 / M: 61 432 882 080 / E: georgia.colahan@ogilvy.com.au

About MYOB

MYOB Group Ltd (ASX: MYO) is a leading cloud based business management solutions provider. It makes business life easier for approximately 1.2 million businesses across Australia and New Zealand by simplifying accounting, payroll, tax, practice management, CRM, job costing, inventory and more. MYOB provides ongoing support via many client service channels including a network of over 40,000 accountants, bookkeepers and other consultants. It is committed to ongoing innovation, particularly in cloud computing solutions, and in 2015 was awarded the BRW award for the most innovative large company for 500+ employees and placed 2nd in BRW’s Most Innovative Companies Award list across all categories nationally.  For more information, visit http://investors.myob.com.au/Investors or follow @MYOB on Twitter.

About the MYOB Business Monitor

After six years of conducting the MYOB Small Business Survey we've enhanced it to better reflect the profile of Australian businesses. We've now incorporated medium businesses, along with the sole traders and small businesses that were already part of the survey. We're pleased to present the new look MYOB Business Monitor.

The MYOB Business Monitor is a national survey of over 1000 Australia's business owners (and directors) conducted twice a year by Colmar Brunton.