Weekly Digest – 7 July 2021

Welcome back to our Weekly Digest. Read on for the latest updates and some ideas to help us all move forward.

Delta Strain Leaves States on High Alert

Tasmania and the ACT remain the only Australian jurisdictions with no active local COVID-19 cases as NSW continues to battle a growing cluster that originated in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Lockdown extended for Greater Sydney

Greater Sydney, including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong, and Shellharbour, will remain under strict lockdown measures until Friday 16th July. Schools will start online learning on July 13.

NSW Government Support

The NSW Government has support for individuals and businesses affected by COVID-19. Visit the NSW Government website to learn more about these measures, including disaster Payments, Pandemic Leave Payments and Dine & Discover NSW vouchers. Ask us if you have any questions.

Australia to Cut International Arrivals By 50%

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced Australia will cut international arrivals by 50% to prevent a surge in the delta-variant of COVID-19.

The slow vaccination program that has been hit by supply chain delays and confused messaging from authorities regarding the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine has made Australia particularly vulnerable to the variant.

New Zealand Restarts Travel Bubble With Victoria, SA, ACT, and Tasmania

New Zealand has reopened the travel bubble for people from certain states in Australia.

From 11:59 pm on Sunday night, those from Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the ACT will be allowed to travel to New Zealand without quarantine, provided they haven’t visited a COVID-19 hotspot.

According to New Zealand’s Ministry of Health, all travellers eligible to fly to New Zealand are required to take a pre-departure test within 72 hours of leaving Australia that must return a negative result. Travellers must also not have been in Queensland, the Northern Territory, or Western Australia since 10:30 pm (NZ time) on 26 June and New South Wales after 11:59 pm (NZ time) on 22 June.

Travel Bubble Between NZ and Western Australia, the Northern Territory to Resume on 9 July

The government announced that Western Australia and Northern Territory have their outbreaks contained, and the travel bubble will resume from 11:59 pm on 9 July. Although the pause remains for NSW and Queensland, those who ordinarily reside in New Zealand will be allowed to travel but with the following requirements:

A declaration that they have not been in a location of interest in the past 14 days
Not symptomatic
Not a close contact of a positive case
Not awaiting the results of a Covid-19 test

It’s important to note that pre-departure tests are required, and those linked to a person or place of interest will not be allowed to travel.

JobMaker Hiring Credit’s Second Claim Period

The second claim period of the JobMaker Hiring Credit is now open. So if you’ve taken on additional young employees between 7 January and 6 April 2021, you may claim the following payments:

up to $10,400 over a year for each additional eligible employee aged 16 to 29 years
up to $5,200 over a year for each additional eligible employee aged 30 to 35 years

Wage Subsidy Scheme for Apprentices and Trainees

The government has announced the expansion of the wage subsidy scheme for apprentices and trainees. Under the scheme, the government will pay half the wages of apprentices up to a maximum of $7,000 each quarter for 12 months. Ask us if you have any questions.

Income Statements can be found in myGov in July

Since Single Touch Payroll (STP) came into place in 2019, payment summaries (previously called Group Certificates) now known as Income Statements can be accessed through myGov. These are no longer directly provided by employers. This will be prepared and ready for employees by 14 July if your or 31 July, depending on if the employer has 20+ employees or 19 or less respectively.

Conduct a Mid-Year Business Review

Time flies! The year is halfway over and although the battle against COVID-19 is not completely over, a lot of things have changed since last year as countries ramp up their vaccination efforts.

Instead of waiting until the end of the year to do some business clean-up, why not conduct a mid-year review to evaluate your performance, boost your awareness of your business, and start corrective actions early?

This Forbes article provides an actionable checklist to help you look into your business more closely and knock off some tasks so you won’t get overwhelmed by the end of the year. These include:

Get to a quiet place and check how you’re feeling. Block off a day or a few to reflect on how you’re feeling about your business. Are you living up to your purpose and vision? Do you feel you’re accomplishing your goals? Are you overwhelmed or anxious about the future of your business?
Assess your cash flow. Regardless of your industry or size, cash flow is the life-blood of your business. Monitor how close you are to your targets for revenue and profits, and identify problems or potential issues. Some of the things you should look into include income, profit, owner’s compensation, tax, and operating expenses.
Review your tax payments. Check in with your accountant to see if you’re on track with mid-year tax projections. Your accountant can look at your revenue, make a projection, and estimate how much you should owe during tax season.
Conduct an expenses analysis. If you’re having cash flow troubles or you simply want to have more cash, you can review your expenses and either increase sales or cut costs. Cutting costs is usually quicker.
Write down what’s next. Develop steps to accomplish new goals and write them down. What can you do about the obstacles you’re facing? How and when are you going to do it? How do you feel about it?

Remember, the purpose of this review is improvement or progress, and not perfection. If you need some guidance to push your business forward, get in touch with us today and let’s discuss how we can help!

Weekly Digests

Weekly Digests