COVID-19 business grant (one-off) – Applications open 19 July

2021 COVID-19 business grant (one-off)

As foreshadowed in our blog last week, the NSW government announced a one-off COVID-19 business grant to aid businesses impacted by the restrictions in Greater Sydney.

The applications will open on Monday 19 July (today), please visit Apply for the 2021 COVID-19 business grant, and will close at 11:59pm on 13 September 2021.

Businesses must login and apply via their MyServiceNSW account, and expected processing time is 3-4 days.

Eligibility criteria

In our last communication, brief eligibility criteria had been released by the NSW government.

Detailed guidelines and eligibility criteria have now been released. In summary:

Businesses and not-for-profit organisations that have been impacted by the Public Health Orders will be eligible for the grant if they:

• have an Australian Business Number (ABN) and were operating in New South Wales as at 1 June 2021;
• have total annual Australian (group) wages of $10 million or less as at 1 July 2020;
• had an aggregated annual turnover between $75,000 and $50 million (inclusive) for the year ended 30 June 2020;
• have business costs for which there is no other government support available;
• have experienced a decline in turnover of at least 30% due to the Public Health Orders over a minimum 2-week continuous period from 26 June 2021 to 17 July 2021 compared to the same period in June and/or July 2019;
• maintain their employee headcount as at 13 July 2021 for the period for which the business is receiving payments under this Grant and the JobSaver scheme.

Please contact our office if you require assistance confirming your eligibility before you proceed with the application process.

Available funding

Funding levels remain unchanged from last week’s announcement, being three different grant amounts depending on the decline in turnover experienced over a minimum 2-week period from 26 June 2021 to 17 July 2021, compared to the same period in 2019:

• $7,500 for a decline of 30% or more
• $10,500 for a decline of 50% or more
• $15,000 for a decline of 70% or more.

Evidence to support eligibility

Eligible businesses applying for the grant are required to:

• declare they meet the eligibility criteria above, mainly they experienced at least 30% decline in turnover over a continuous period from 26 June 2021 to 17 July 2021 compared to the exact same period in June and/or July 2019;
• declare their employee headcount at 13 July 2021, and that they will maintain this headcount for the period under which the business is receiving payments under this Grant and the JobSaver scheme (commencing 26 July);
• provide details of their qualified accountant, registered tax agent or registered BAS agent for possible compliance checking / audit purposes – for applicants outside the ‘highly impacted industries list’, or those seeking the maximum $15,000 grant, the decline in turnover and total annual wages must be confirmed by a qualified accountant or tax agent in writing.
• submit an Australian income tax return, Notice of Assessment or other documentation demonstrating the business had aggregated annual revenues between $75,000 and $50 million (inclusive) for the year ended 30 June 2020;
• lodge other supporting documents as required to demonstrate you meet the eligibility criteria.

If you are unsure of your substantiation requirements or require assistance with the abovementioned accountant’s letter, please contact your appropriate CharterNet team member.

Conclusion

As mentioned the COVID-19 business grant can be claimed against any continuous two week period between 26 June and 17 July, vs the same period in 2019. Accordingly if the eligibility criteria has not yet been met it may be appropriate to revisit the application again after 17 July.

We will continue to keep you apprised as detailed emerge regarding the state and federal grants, including the JobSaver grant which is scheduled to commence as of 26 July.

If we can be of any assistance at all please don’t hesitate to reach out.