Government Softens Trust Tax Reforms After Small Business PressureThere's encouraging news for members operating through discretionary trusts. Treasury has released draft legislation for the new 30% baseline tax on discretionary trusts announced in the Federal Budget — and it now includes a significant carve-out. Existing trusts that elect to fix their distribution patterns will not be subject to the new minimum tax, meaning many small and family businesses can keep their established trust structure without a costly restructure. This outcome reflects sustained advocacy across the small business sector. The election pathway mirrors a fallback option put to Government by the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA), which had opposed the tax entirely and fought hard for protections for existing small businesses. ALNA added its voice to COSBOA’s directly, writing to Treasurer Jim Chalmers warning the reforms risked capturing legitimate operating businesses - with effective tax rates approaching 60%, and raising members' concerns in meetings with federal MPs, and Senators in Canberra. As COSBOA CEO Skye Cappuccio notes, this is a better outcome than originally announced - but the policy remains flawed. Fixing distributions sacrifices flexibility that matters for succession planning, and trusts that revoke their election face taxation at the highest marginal rate plus the Medicare levy, which COSBOA rightly calls unnecessarily punitive. Consultation closes 18 September, and ALNA will continue working alongside COSBOA on the detail. If these changes affect your business, please email your feedback to policy@alna.net.au. |
After years of sustained advocacy for members highlighting the importance of a highly regulated and consistent lottery industry model, the Albanese Government moved amendments in the interactive gambling act on Wednesday night that will have the effect of banning a range of shadow market lottery products including foreign matched lotteries, online Keno and changes to Trade promotion lotteries. ALNA had worked closely with the Charitable Lotteries Alliance on this effort. This is a huge win for our members that ALNA has been fighting for many years. The governments legislation passed the Senate Wednesday night and it is a major victory for the thousands of small businesses and their employees who depend on a well-regulated lotteries sector to run their businesses in the communities they serve. It was disappointing to see amendments moved at the last minute by a Member of the Opposition that would have been incredibly harmful for our retailers. These last minute amendments without any industry consultation would have made mandatory data checks necessary before selling lottery products and would have banned credit card payments for all lotteries. These had to be seen off on the floor. Fortunately, one of these was later withdrawn and the other was not supported by the Labor government, with the strong support of One Nation and the Greens – and was subsequently voted down. Members should be aware how important these reforms in schedule 4 of the bill were for your businesses. Without these important reforms, the lotteries model we rely on, and its long-standing social licence would have been at risk. The effort and engagement required to get these types of reforms through is not always well understood and it requires engagement right across the parliament, often at the last minute between meetings, and late into the night, so we thank the Albanese Government for its leadership on the lottery amendments in Schedule 4, as well as other parties like One Nation who backed us unanimously and strongly again, just as they did in 2018, and also individual members of the parliament and advisers to them who we engaged with a lot like One Nation Senator’s Pauline Hanson and Senator Sean Bell, Nationals Deputy Leader and MP Darren Chester, and the Nationals David Littleproud MP, and others who listened when it mattered for our members. We especially acknowledge the efforts of the Minister for Communications Anika Wells in advocating for our cause. We acknowledge this support sometimes takes courage, especially when there is a diversity of opinion in individual parties about issues but small business is vulnerable and it needs support when it matters, and it mattered Wednesday for the more than 4,000 small businesses across Australia who rely on income generated by state-licensed lotteries. These businesses employ an estimated 20,000 people and, particularly in regional and rural communities, are often important local businesses and community hubs. For ALNA and its members, this is a win that has been years in the making. |
ALNA will be announcing its exciting new EFTPOS offer and the successful vendor next week. So, if you have received a letter from Suncorp Bank about your payments merchant facilities closing on December 11? - There is no need to Panic
ALNA has undertaken an extensive collective bargaining process on behalf of 1800 member businesses to access a new highly competitive and industry leading new EFTPOS Payments Offer through a request for proposal model, effectively tendering our payments volume in the market.
We will announce all the details to members next week.
ALNA is aware that Suncorp Bank has written to hundreds of our members about your current offer ending on 11 December. This member benefit has delivered $Millions of dollars of savings over more than a decade to ALNA members. There is plenty of time and ALNA’s new ultra-competitive offer will be available and the vendor has the capability to onboard hundreds of retailers every week.
What if I am with another EFTPOS payments provider?
For members currently with an Eftpos provider that is not Suncorp, this will be a very good time to make a comparison with your existing provider, especially with the surcharge ban unfortunately due to begin on October 1. When the time comes, we will assist you to compare and estimate your expected savings with this new offer. With that information, you can then choose to stay with or switch providers.