Other Forms of Trade Cover
Throughout the Tradesman Insurance website you’ll see plenty of references to the common forms of cover, but what about the less common ones?
When most tradies think about insurance they are thinking of three main covers, being public liability, income protection and tool insurance.
But there are a few other forms of cover which may also be beneficial, and in this guide we’ll take a look at them in more detail.
Business Expense Insurance
Business expense insurance is quite popular in the broader business community, but is yet to become particularly popular amongst tradespeople.
A big part of the reason for this is that business expense insurance can only be provided by financial advisers, however most tradies only deal with an insurance broker rather than a qualified financial adviser.
How can it help tradies?
Business expense insurance is very similar to income protection, but instead of covering your personal expenses it covers your business expenses.
Let’s say you’re a carpenter working as a sole trader and have fixed business expenses including a lease on your ute, some leased equipment, an advertisement in the Yellow Pages and of course your business insurance.
If you were unable to work due to injury or illness, your income protection would help you to pay your mortgage or rent, and keep food on the table, but what about your business expenses?
Business expense insurance can cover these costs on an ongoing basis, so that when you’re well enough to return to work you still have everything you need to get straight back to business.
Business Interruption Insurance
For many tradies business interruption insurance may not be relevant, but for some, especially if you operate primarily from your own workshop, it could be worthwhile looking at.
Business interruption insurance can replace all or part of your revenue if your business is unable to operate for a period of time due to certain circumstances.
How can it help tradies?
Let’s say you operate your business primarily from workshop that you lease or own.
If the workshop was to be severely damaged due to a fire for example and you couldn’t operate from the premises for a few months, how would you deal with the loss in revenue?
Business interruption insurance may be able to help you to protect your revenue in these types of circumstances.
Tax Investigation / Tax Audit
With the ATO admitting in recent years that it is actively targeting tradies for tax audits, we all need to be aware of the financial impacts of such as audit.
Even if your tax figures are found to be completely clean and legit, the costs of complying with an ATO audit or investigation can be considerable.
Tax investigation cover is a relatively inexpensive option that can be taken out with public liability insurance, and it will help you to cover costs relating to the services of a tax agent or accountant if you are audited by the ATO.
More Covers
The three covers listed above are really just the tip of the iceberg. Whilst not every tradie will need every type of cover, it is important to know whether or not you have certain risks which could be protected against.
For more information on the various forms of trade insurance available please contact one of our specialists for an obligation free chat.
