The Australia Business Review has revealed the top three hurdles for small businesses in Australia to overcome to be successful.

Photo credit; Tristan Honscheid on Flickr

1. In top spot is the challenge of cash flow and getting the necessary cash injection to start a business. Banks are less willing to invest in small businesses nowadays so it’s important to manage resources responsibly.

2. Navigating the Australia Tax Office (ATO) is the second most common hurdle for small businesses. Discrepancies that result from honest mistakes, and failure to comply with the many tax regulations can all lead to small businesses falling foul of the ATO.

Under current Fringe Benefits Tax laws, a company can find the ATO looking at it disapprovingly if it spends too much on an employee social gathering, while different types of tax have different tax years, leading to a lot of paperwork and confusion.

Thorough and meticulous bookkeeping and some time spent reading and grasping all the regulations are necessary navigate the ATO.

3. And, lastly, the Carbon Tax can be a pain for new businesses, especially those wanting to do their own production.

Under the scheme, companies considered as top polluters must pay a fee per tonne of carbon released into the atmosphere.

In addition to businesses that have a production arm, it also affects small businesses in terms of the rising cost of the supplies they need.

The carbon tax will be scrapped eventually, but it will be replaced by an emissions trading scheme. New start-ups will need to keep an eye on that, and allow for its effects upon their running costs.

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