Reducing the corporate tax rate

On 3 May 2016, the government announced in the 2016–17 Budget that it will reduce the corporate tax rate progressively from 30 per cent to 25 per cent.

Currently, there is a small business corporate tax rate which is less than the headline corporate tax rate.

• Companies with an aggregated annual turnover below $2 million are taxed at 28.5 per cent.
• Companies with an aggregated annual turnover of $2 million or above are generally taxed at 30 per cent.

The government announced a reduction in the small business tax rate from 28.5 per cent to 27.5 per cent for the 2016-17 income year. The turnover threshold to qualify for the lower rate will start at $10 million and progressively rise until the 27.5 per cent rate applies to all corporate tax entities subject to the general company tax rate in the 2023-24 income year.

The corporate tax rate will then be cut to 27 per cent for the 2024-25 income year and by one percentage point in each subsequent year until it reaches 25 per cent for the 2026-27 income year.

The maximum franking credit that can be allocated to a frankable distribution paid by a company will be based on the company’s applicable corporate tax rate.

A summary of the proposed rates is provided below:

Year	Aggregated Annual Turnover Threshold	Entities under the Threshold	Other Corporate Tax Entities
2015-2016	$2m	28.5%	30.0%
2016-2017	$10m	27.5%	30.0%
2017-2018	$25m	27.5%	30.0%
2018-2019	$50m	27.5%	30.0%
2019-2020	$100m	27.5%	30.0%
2020-2021	$250m	27.5%	30.0%
2021-2022	$500m	27.5%	30.0%
2022-2023	$1b	27.5%	30.0%
2023-2024	No threshold	27.5%	27.5%
2024-2025	No threshold	27.0%	27.0%
2025-2026	No threshold	26.0%	26.0%
2026-2027	No threshold	25.0%	25.0%

Start Date

The measure will apply from the 2016-17 income year.

Legislation and supporting material

This change is not yet law and is subject to the normal parliamentary process.

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10 Year Enterprise Tax Plan — increase the unincorporated small business tax discount

In the 2016-17 Budget, the Government announced an increase to the tax discount for unincorporated small businesses incrementally over 10 years from 5 per cent to 16 per cent.

From 1 July 2016, the tax discount will increase to 8 per cent, remain constant at 8 per cent for eight years, then increase to 10 per cent in 2024-25, 13 per cent in 2025-26 and reach a new permanent discount of 16 per cent in 2026-27.

The increases will coincide with staggered cuts in the corporate tax rate to 25 per cent. The current cap of $1,000 per individual for each income year will be retained.

The tax discount applies to the income tax payable on the business income received from an unincorporated small business entity.

From 1 July 2016, the discount will be extended to individual taxpayers with business income from an unincorporated business that has an aggregated annual turnover of less than $5.0 million.

Legislation and supporting material

This change is not yet law and is subject to the normal parliamentary process.

Find out more

• 2016-17 Budget Paper No 2 – Revenue Measures page 25External Link
• Media releaseExternal Link issued on 3 May 2016 by the Treasurer.

10 Year Enterprise Tax Plan — increase the small business entity turnover threshold

In the 2016-17 Budget, the Government announced an increase to the small business entity turnover threshold from $2.0 million to $10.0 million from 1 July 2016.

The current $2.0 million turnover threshold will be retained for access to the small business capital gains tax concessions.

Access to the unincorporated small business tax discount will be limited to entities with turnover less than $5.0 million.

From 1 July 2016, Business with a turnover of less than $10.0 million will be able to access a range of concessions which are currently only available to business entities with a turnover of less than $2.0 million.