They’re known as the Australian ‘Silicon Valley mafia’, a cabal of 20,000 talented software engineers who have relocated to Silicon Valley, the tech epicentre of the world, to follow their dreams of becoming successful entrepreneurs. But the exodus in recent years has raised concerns that Australia is losing its talent and has been left with skill shortages in the technology sector. ‘Brain Drain’, as it’s in labelled in public discourse, is the pervading fear in Australia that our best and […]
Throughout 2016, the Turnbull government has been following through on plans to boost innovation in Australia, as blueprinted in last December’s innovation statement. As we mentioned in a previous post, last month the government introduced new tax laws for start-ups and investors. Now, to further encourage innovation and growth among businesses, Australia plans to reform its loss tax rules. The Australian Treasury released a draft legislation seeking to amend the existing “same business test (SBT)” clause and to make it […]
Historically, the R&D tax incentive was formed with a key goal of making government investment for innovation more attainable to small businesses. Innovation, as a whole, impels small business to invest up front in their ideas. However, the aid of a refundable tax offset has helped to considerably alleviate the risk. In fact, the number of companies accessing R&D tax benefits from the Australian government has augmented to beyond 13,000 over the years. Over 7,000 small businesses currently apply for the program, however […]
Over the last twelve months there has been substantial activity in respect to the research and development (R&D) tax incentive with various announcements broadcasted by AusIndustry and the Australian Tax Office (ATO), as well as the release of the National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA). As a result, the discourse of business and government in Australia is rife with mentions to innovation, disruption and dexterity. Hence, the policy settings of government and our macroeconomic environment has seen a shift in […]