Small Business Policies Proposed By Labor Government

Labor has made announcements about policies designed to help small business owners, but there is not much detail set in stone at this point. This is to be expected though, as Labor has a vision that will require the Treasury’s assistance to get right.

An announcement has been made regarding a plan that aims for small businesses to be paid on time. Labor wishes to ensure that small businesses are paid within 30 days, which while a welcome announcement for those that are constantly chasing money, is yet to have any concrete information.

More detail is required here in what they mean by this approach, however. You cannot simply legislate that someone has to pay you in 30 days if they are without the means to do so. If it is to do with government departments and needing to pay within 30 days, this may also be a welcome approach.

Mr Albanese has also announced that there will be a reduction in small business transaction costs at the point of payment, with a clear timeline for implementing least cost routing or similar. Least Cost Routing simply means that when a customer pays you with their debit card, they will not get to choose where it is Visa Debit or EFTPOS, but will automatically process through the least cost vehicle.

This could have major savings for small businesses that process a high number of small value transactions using EFTPOS or Visa/Mastercard Debit. It should also be noted that the Reserve Bank is already working on this problem and that you can already talk to your merchant provider about switching to Least Cost Routing.

Labor also has a policy about a beneficial ownership register for companies.  Now if you own shares in trust for someone else, you do not need to disclose anywhere who that “someone else” is.  The banks will need to know when identifying their client, but the public has no way of knowing.  Labor has mentioned that they will bring in a register of beneficial ownership so that people can search for the real owner of a company

There are also multiple other announcements that have been announced at the election by both parties that promised other items, but only time will tell if any changes will be made on that end.