A new Bill has been introduced into parliament to establish a payroll tax rebate scheme which is intended to encourage the employment of people with disabilities (as opposed to the general dis-incentive payroll tax offers for employing people).

The Payroll Tax Rebate Scheme (Disability Employment) Bill 2011 will provide employers with a payroll tax rebate of up to $4,000 per eligible employee.

The $4,000 rebate will be paid in 2 equal instalments – $2,000 after 3 months of employment and a further $2,000 after 6 months of employment.

Eligible workers are new employees that have completed the Family and Community Services funded Transition to Work program and are working a minimum of 12 hours a week, on average.

More information on how to apply for this rebate will be available later in the year and so we’ll keep you updated.

Anyone who reads the blog knows that I love online tools and calculators. I was very excited to hear of the launch of PayCheck Plus, an online tool provided by the Fair Work Ombudsman, designed for employers and employees to quickly calculate base pay rates, allowances, overtime and penalty rates under modern awards.

As an employer, you can also use ‘Check my payroll’ – a feature that allows you to match and calculate pay rates for multiple employees. 

I’m not sure how great the tool actually is when it comes to identifying which modern award an employee falls under. I test drive it by selecting details related to an entry-level receptionist (where the only option was Animal Care and Vet Services award) and an assistant accountant (where it offerred up several unsuitable options including the Black Coal Mining Industry Award). Why no mention anywhere of the popular Clerks (Private Sector) Award? It did, however, successfully find the right award for several other occupations.

If you already know the right award and want to check on base rates or penalties, the ‘check my payroll’ option could provide a quick and simple solution. I quickly played around with this feature with mixed results – mostly positive. 

All in all, it looks like it could be a handy little tool for employers to calculate various pay rates. A word of caution: double-check the award and rates before relying solely on the tool. 

Give it a spin yourself at Fair Work’s PayCheck Plus page.

Did you know that you can now search for Australian patents from 1904 onward through IP Australia’s AusPat database.

This free online tool has a range of useful features that can help you find the patent you’re looking for, including:

• eDossier – access responses, reports and amendments to the patents you have searched for
• eJournal – search, browse and print information from Australian patent journals
• eRegister – search, browse and print extracts from the Register of Patents.

For further information or to access AusPat, visit the IP Australia  website.

If you are an exporter and you have spent money developing the export markets, then you are probably eligible to apply for an Export Market Development Grant.

Grant applications can be lodged anytime up to 30 November 2010. Austrade will not accept late applications.

The Export Marketing Development Grant Scheme provides financial incentives, in the form of taxable grants based on eligible expenditure, to promote the export of products and services to markets outside Australia, excluding New Zealand. The grant focuses on direct promotional activities and does not assist the general establishment of a business or product development.

Eligible expenditure includes expenses under the following general headings:

• overseas representation;
• marketing consultants;
• overseas market visits;
• communication costs;
• freight of free samples;
• trade fairs, seminars, in-store promotions;
• promotional material; and
• bringing overseas buyers to Australia.

There are some limits to the various main expenditure categories.

Companies with turnovers up to $50M (this is total income, not solely exporting income) can apply for the Export Market Development Grant. The minimum expenditure that can be claimed is $10,000. The minimum grant is $5,000 up to a potential maximum grant of $200,000. For more information about the Export Market Development Grant you can visit the Austrade website .

To be eligible for the Australian Government Early Stage Commercialisation Repayable Grants, applicants must have ownership, access to, or the beneficial use of any intellectual property necessary to carry out and/or commercialise the project being funded by Commercialisation Australia.

Grants are available to undertake activities focusing on enabling a new product, process or service to be developed to the stage where it can be taken to market. Grants from a minimum of $250,000 to $2M, on a 50% contribution basis, are available from Commercialisation Australia for eligible companies. Group turnover must be under $20M for each of the last 3 years. Applicants need to produce an accountant’s written opinion that the company’s turnover has been under $20M for each of the last 3 years and that the company has the ability to fund its share of the costs.

Eligible activities include:
• systematic work necessary for installing and establishing processes; and
• systems and services that enable a new product, process or service to be produced to the stage where it can affectively be brought to market.

Merit criteria for this grant includes:
• Need for Funding
• Commercial Plan and Potential
• Market
• Management
• National Benefits

This grant is the only product within Commercialisation Australia that is repayable and the following conditions apply:

• Once the company has achieved sales in excess of $100,000 for the product that has benefited from the Commercialisation Australia grant, repayments are 5% of sales, payable every 6 months.
• Annual audited financial accounts must be submitted to Commercialisation Australia.
• If the business or intellectual property, that is the outcome of the project, is sold within 10 years of the end of the project, then the proceeds from the sale must be applied first to the repayment of the grant.

For advice on the practicalities of applying for assistance under the Commercialisation Australia programme, please contact us or visit  the Commercialisation Australia’s Early Stage Commercialisation page for further information and factsheets.

Grants Checklist

If you would like to receive checklists for the following components of the Commercialisation Australia Grants

• Skills and Knowledge – Specialist Advice And Services
• Skills and Knowledge – Experienced Executives
• Proof of Concept Grants
• Early Stage Commercialisation Repayable Grant 

please contact Christie (details in the author box below) and she’ll be glad to send you a checklist.

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The Australian Government’s “Commercialisation Australia – Proof Of Concept Grant” offers grants of between $50,000 and $250,000 to assist eligible businesses with turnovers under $10M to test the commercial viability of the business model or idea for a product, process or service.

For grant percentages up to 50% of the eligible expenditure, funding is available for activities associated with the steps necessary to establish the commercial viability of a new, product, process or service. Proof of Concept eligible activities does not include Research and Development which is funded for companies through the Income Tax Act.

The first step for interested companies is to download the Commercialisation Australia Pre-Application Form from the Commercialisation Australia website located at www.commercialisationaustralia.gov.au.  

Applicants for Commercialisation Australia must satisfy the merit criteria, which is:

• need for funding
• commercial plan and potential
• market opportunity
• management capability
• national benefits

If you would like our assistance in completing the Commercialisation Australia Pre-Application Form or for discussions of the practicalities of applying for assistance under the Commercialisation Australia programme, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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The Australian Government’s Commercialisation Australia – Experienced Executive program offers significant assistance to a small medium enterprise which has the ownership, access to, or beneficial use, of any intellectual property necessary to carry out and/or commercialise the product, process or service, for the employment of experienced executives.

A successful applicant must have a turnover of under $10M for each of the last 3 years. Applicants need to be companies. The maximum grant available is $200,000 over a two year period on a 50% grant basis. The grant is to be utilised for the employment of a Chief Executive Officer and/or other commercialisation focused executives to supplement the commercialisation skills within the management team of the applicant company.

Applicants have to satisfy five merit criterion:    

• Need for Funding – the applicant has to clarify why they need government assistance.
• Commercial Plan and Potential – the product, service or process should have a competitive advantage.
• Market Opportunity – applicant should have a clear understanding of the gap in the market place for the product, service or process and understand how the product will be distributed.
• Management Capabilities – the management team, especially after the recruitment of the executive(s) being hired with assistance under this program, should appear to have the skills necessary to successfully commercialise the company’s product, services or process.
• National Benefits – the applicant needs to be able to articulate the national benefits which will accrue to Australia resulting from government support for the company to be able to employ an experienced executive(s).

For more information check out Commercialisation Australia online at http://www.commercialisationaustralia.gov.au. If you would like our assistance in completing the Commercialisation Australia Pre-Application Form, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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Do you hire independent contractors in your business?  Sometimes a person’s status as an independent contractor or employee just isn’t clear cut. Before entering into a contract, it’s important that you understand the differences between employees and independent contractors.

The Tax Office have released a handy little online tool to help you decide whether your workers are employees or contractors. Individual workers can also use it to work out their status. 
Once you have answered a series of questions, you’ll be provided a report that will give:

• a decision of employee or contractor (for Commonwealth tax and superannuation purposes) for this particular arrangement
• a summary of the information you’ve provided
• the basis of the decision
• a summary of your Commonwealth tax and superannuation obligations relating to the worker.

No personal info will be sent to the ATO so you will remain anonymous at all times. 

There are two versions of the online decision tool:

• for workers in the building and construction industry, check out the Building and construction industry – employee/contractor decision tool
• for all other workers, refer to Employee/contractor decision tool.

The Australian Government Enterprise Connect Program provides support to eligible SMEs, including business reviews conducted by an Enterprise Connect Business Advisor. For eligible businesses there is no charge for this review which can take up to 3 days. If the business is admitted to the Enterprise Connect Program, the Government will assist in appointing an external consultant to implement the recommendations from the Enterprise Connect Business Advisor’s Review. Items eligible for funding may include:

Grants are available for 50% of costs to a maximum of $20,000. Grants are available to companies with turnovers from a minimum of $2million to a maximum of $100million; however for companies with their major business operations in regional areas, the minimum turnover is $1.5million. For businesses operating in remote areas the minimum turnover is $750,000.

Industry segments for eligibility for Enterprise Connect Grants include:

Further information on the Enterprise Connect program can be found at the Government’s Enterprise Connect website.