Drought support

Drought assistance program

Watch our short video about our drought assistance program.

We're committed to doing what we can to help. You can phone our Emergency support line on 1800 806 218 to discuss your situation.

Help for individuals and businesses

If a drought is causing financial difficulties for you or your business, help could include:

• more time to pay or payment plans
• remitting penalties or interest charges
• tax incentives for primary producers
• small business tax concessions.

You can speak with us to discuss your situation.

We can arrange to:

• quickly pay any income tax or activity statement refunds we owe you
• in special circumstances, we can release you from your tax debt if paying would cause serious hardship.

You may be able to access disaster support from other government agencies. Find out about recovery following natural disasters and how to report disaster payments and grants in your tax return

Small business tax concessions

If you're running an eligible small business, the following concessions may help you at times of financial pressure:

• Small business income tax offset – this offset can reduce the tax you pay by up to $1,000 each year.
• PAYG instalment concession – you can vary your pay your pay as you go (PAYG) instalments when you lodge your business activity statement or instalment notice through Online services for business or through your registered tax or BAS agent.
• Simplified trading stock rules – this concession allows you to report an estimate of the value of your trading stock at the end of the financial year.
• Small business restructure roll-over – small businesses can change their legal structure, without incurring any income tax liability, by transferring active assets between entities.
• Lower company tax rate – if you are a base-rate entity you could be eligible for the lower company tax rate of 27.5%.

Economic stimulus measures

• Temporary full expensing – eligible businesses may immediately deduct the business portion of the cost of eligible new depreciating assets.
• Loss carry back tax offset – if you’re an eligible corporate entity, you may claim this refundable tax offset when you choose to carry back tax losses to certain income years in which you had an income tax liability.

Help for primary producers

We recognise the significant impact of drought on rural communities.

We offer measures to help primary producers manage their finances when facing drought:

• Immediate tax deductions for capital expenditure, including
  • Farm management deposits scheme
  • Fencing and fodder storage assets
  • Landcare operations
  • Primary producer concessions
  • Shelterbelts – new fencing or reticulation
  • Water facilities
• If you put money into your farm management deposit account within the last 12 months, you can withdraw those funds without affecting the deductions you have claimed. Your financial institution may require advance notice of your request for early withdrawal.
• Special tax concessions may affect which amounts you include in your assessable income each year and how you pay your PAYG instalments. If you operate as an individual or in partnership, you can also benefit from exceptions to the non-commercial losses rules.