The following announcement was made by the Treasurer on Budget night:

All small businesses will get an immediate tax deduction for any individual assets they buy costing less than $20,000. This $20,000 limit applies to each individual item. Small businesses can apply this $20,000 rule to as many individual items as they wish. These arrangements start Budget night and continue until the end of June 2017.

The precise rules have not yet been released. However, it is currently understood that this will cover purchases of all art (paintings, drawings, graphics, prints etc) for use by businesses with an ABN and with turnover of less than $2million.

Now could be the right time to refresh your lobby, office or boardroom, with a great work of art. The $20,000 limit applies to each work of art, and there is still time to claim the deduction this financial year if the art is delivered and paid for by 30 June 2015. It is recommend that you seek your own tax advice to make sure this opportunity applies to you.