As a small business, how do you approach the end of financial year period?
If you’re new to business and not sure what you can claim, read on. Alternatively, if you’re in the familiar space where you’re scrambling to pull all your paperwork together, or make some last minute purchases before June 30, this article is for you too. There are always ways to maximise your tax return!
We’ve curated some lists and guides to explain several of the tax breaks and concessions applicable to SMBs. This is definitely a great time to shop, upgrade your business hardware, furniture, office supplies and many other things. Did you know everything you buy at Officeworks for your business (or hybrid work set-up) could be tax deductible?
Getting more from your tax return
There are various small business tax breaks you should be across. After all, a bigger tax return is always welcome when it comes to running a small business. Whether you’re mainly working from your business premises or splitting your time between work and home, make sure you look at the purchases you’ve made in the 2021-2022 financial year as they could be tax deductible.
Let’s start with some helpful guidelines:
- ATO: small business tax time toolkit
- ATO: business tax deductions for small businesses
- For more top tax break tips for SMB’s, refer to this article
- ATO fact sheet: ‘Small business home-based business expenses’
- If you had to relocate to some of your business to home, there’s a specific way to approach the deductions you can make
- ATO occupation guides for job-specific work-related expenses you can claim
Claiming New Capital Assets
Before we get into the many products available to support your business needs, have you either recently, or do you plan to, invest in new capital assets? This includes items such as those necessary for running a business, from computers and tablets; an office or shop fit-out; equipment like a fridge or a grill; phones and if you’re in hospitality or retail settings, you may have purchased specialist equipment like point-of-sale systems. If the answer is yes, read up on the Temporary Full Expensing rules.
Businesses are able to claim the total cost of new capital assets acquired after 7.30pm on 6 October 2020, and better still, there is no limit on the cost of assets that can be deducted. Click there if you need to know more about the simpler depreciation for small business rules e.g. how to use it and if it’s a fit for your business. There are also baseline expenses, Covid related expenses and some new rule changes to note. Get some great advice on this here.
Claiming work from home office supplies
If you’ve been running your business from home, there are methods used to calculate your working-from-home expenses. Always consider ‘How much of this expense is work related?’ it may be a split between work and personal use, depending on the method you use to calculate your deduction. For example, you may incur additional costs when working from home for:
- Running expenses for electricity (lights, power for equipment, heating, cooling)
- Cleaning
- Stationery and office supplies
- Phone and internet costs
- Equipment, like computers
Keeping good records
Whether you’re a paper-based kind of record keeper using document box files, expanding files and archive boxes or you like to digitise your receipts using the ATO’s free myDeductions tool, record keeping has to be done. At Officeworks you can get your receipt emailed to you at the check out. And by downloading our app, you can make managing EOFY even easier. If you do photograph or scan receipts, you may need extra storage like a separate hard drive or cloud software or even accounting software. Either way, given you’re expected to keep files for five years from the date you lodge your tax return, that’s for employees and businesses alike, keeping good records is a must.
Shop by workplace
So you’ve got a fairly good handle on how to maximise your return and now you might be wondering where you can funnel any remaining budget into elevating your office space and equipment. You can shop by workplace in any of the carefully curated collections featuring essential items whether you work in an educational environment, hospitality, work from home, in an office, café or retail, it’s all here.
Time for an equipment refresh?
Out-of-date tech can slow your business down. There are so many affordable options and if you have the budget, there are high end ones too. If you’re all about the technology, check out this article for some of the most sought after tech to make sure your small business runs like a dream.
Buying guides
These handy guides have been developed to make it easier for you to choose the right product. They provide a snapshot of the various options available, as well as important things to consider. And if you don’t like the look of a chair or desk, create your own!
- ‘Sit-Stand Furniture Buying Guide’
- ‘Laptop buying guide’
- Design your own chair and your own desk!
If you want some inspiration and you need to spend the budget on sprucing up your workplace, check out this article for ideas on how to rejuvenate everything from the reception area, communal spaces to meeting rooms.
Enjoy everyday low prices on a range of furniture, tech, office supplies and more for your business at Officeworks and the best part?
Find your EOFYthing this tax time, with 167 stores nationwide, that are open early and closing late during EOFY for convenience, or shop online with 40,000 products to choose from. Remember there is also delivery options to suit your businesses needs or the free 2 hour click and collect and free metro delivery service on orders over $55. Because EOFYthing you purchase at Officeworks, could be tax deductible.
If the product is in stock at your chosen store at the time of your order, it will be available to collect in as little as 2 hours. Find out more.
This article was supplied by the team at Officeworks, an ARA partner.
Officeworks is Australia’s leading retailer of office supplies, technology, furniture, education resources, art supplies and Print & Create. Officeworks offers more than 40,000 products on its website, catering to micro, small and medium business customers to help them start, run and grow their business. With everyday low prices on quality products and services, including tech-support by Geeks2U, you’ll find everything you need at Officeworks.
