The majority of SMEs find the tax system to be neither easy nor hard to understand, with 11% finding it very easy and 18% finding it very hard. Most SMEs have only a slight or moderate understanding of their own business taxes. The complexity of the tax system is cited as the biggest hurdle for over half of SMEs in understanding taxes. SMEs make up a large part of the economy, employing many workers and contributing significantly to GDP, despite many not surviving beyond a few years in business.

1. 2015 THE VOICE OF SMEs
Dollars & Sense
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Do you understand the Tax System?
An SMEs has a...
The smaller the business the more likely taxes
might be confusing
11%
31% very easy to understand
37% neither easy nor hard to understand
18% very hard to understand
3% extremely hard to understand
extremely easy to understand
SMEs find business taxes:
SOURCES
1. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2. The Voice 2 Survey
Micro: 1-4 employees Small: 4 – 19 employees Medium: 20 – 200 employees
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RIGHT ON THE MONEY
Majority of businesses are happy
with the current rate of GST
69% Say it’s
‘about right’
KNOWING YOUR BUSINESS
The data goes in but who
understands what comes out?
out of 10 SMEs say
the complexity of the
tax system is the biggest hurdle
to understanding it
3.5
6%
42% have a moderate knowledge of their own business taxes
34% have a slight knowledge
believe they have an extremely good understanding of
their own business taxes
For every death of an SME there is a new one born
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
chance of
surviving your
first business
birthday (1)
chance of
surviving to your
second business
birthday (1)
69% 81%
SMALL BY NAME ONLY
SMEs employ two-thirds of
private sector workers in WA (1)
And contribute almost 50%
to national GDP (1)
SMEs Contribution to the nation