25 October 1999

GST help for over 1.2 million small and medium businesses—

Action Guide released today!

There’s more to GST than just tax—it’s about business. That’s why the Government has assigned $500 million to the GST Start-Up Assistance Office to help small and medium businesses, community sector and educational bodies get ready for the GST.

As part of the GST Start-Up Assistance Office’s ‘Business Skills Education' programme, The GST and Business Skills—an Action Guide, prepared by KPMG is available now with information on essential business skills and how to adjust business practices and processes for a GST environment.

Mark Paterson, of the New Tax System Advisory Board said, "Getting GST-ready doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive—the Action Guide is free, simple to understand and available now for over 1.2 million small and medium businesses, over 250,000 community sector groups and 50,000 educational bodies."

The Action Guide will help small and medium businesses, community sector and educational bodies:

1. decide on how to get ready for GST

2. understand how the GST will impact on their business

3. put GST into a business context.

Industry peak bodies and associations can use the Action Guide by adding industry-specific examples to suit the needs of their members.

The Action Guide can be downloaded from www.gststartup.gov.au.
Some CDs and hard-copies will also be available.

For people from a culturally and linguistically diverse background, translations will be available shortly.