reducing the default bankruptcy period from three years to one year;

introducing a “safe harbour” from personal liability in insolvent trading for directors who appoint a restructuring adviser to develop a turnaround plan for the company;

making ‘ipso facto’ clauses (which allow contracts to be terminated solely due to an insolvency event) unenforceable if a company is undertaking a restructure.

investors will receive a 20 per cent non-refundable tax offset on investment to be capped at $200,000 per investor, per year; and

a 10 year capital gains tax exemption will also be available to investors who hold their investments for at least three years.

undertake an eligible business (the scope of which is to be determined);

were incorporated during the last three income tax years;

are not listed on any stock exchange; and

have expenditure of less than $1 million and income of less than $200,000 for the previous income tax year.

partners in a new ESVCLP will receive a 10 per cent non-refundable tax offset on capital invested during the year;

the maximum fund size for new ESVCLPs will be increased from $100 million to $200 million; and 

ESVCLP will no longer have to divest from a company when its value exceeds $250 million.

currently, the “same business test” allows companies to claim a tax deduction on losses only if they are continuing with the same business model. This poses a real issue for startups who are trying to change their strategy and “pivot” their business;

the “same business test” will be relaxed to allow companies to access prior-year losses when they have entered into new transactions or business activities. This effectively writes off a business’ previous operations as an R&D cost;

the “same business test” will be replaced by a more flexible “predominantly similar business test”; and

under the new “predominantly similar business test” companies will have access to prior-year losses where their new business model uses similar assets and generates income from similar sources as their previous business model. This will reduce the tax exposure of startups who decide to change their strategy and “pivot” their operation after learning more about the market in which they operate.

the requirement that disclosure documents given to employees under an ESS must be made available to the public will be limited; and

there will be consultation with industry on ways to make ESS more user-friendly for startups.