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COVID-19 Special - 27 August 2021
Keep up-to-date with us and what's happening in the business world
- COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Extension - Alert Levels 3 & 4
- Summary of Other Financial Support Available for Businesses
- Xero Assistance Programme
As a result of the Government’s announcement this afternoon, where Auckland will remain at Level 4 for the next two weeks, while the rest of the Country will move to Level 3 at 11.59pm, Tuesday 31 August 2021, it means there will be an extension of the wage subsidy scheme for a further two weeks.
At Alert Level 3 or above, businesses located anywhere in New Zealand are eligible for the wage subsidy, if business revenue is down by at least 40% for a two-week period when compared to a two-week period prior lockdown.
If you have any questions or would like some assistance applying for the additional financial support, please contact Ben, Sarah or any of the AAF team.
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COVID-19 WAGE SUBSIDY EXTENSION - ALERT LEVELS 3 & 4
The wage subsidy extension amounts that will be the same as for the current wage subsidy, being $600 per week for full-time equivalents (FTE) and $359 per week for part-time employees. Employees that work more than 20 hours are considered full-time (1.0 FTE), while employees that work up to 20 hours per week are consider considered part-time (0.6 FTE). The wage subsidy will cover
The key criteria are:
- The business must be an eligible employer, which includes charities, societies, and childcare centres;
- The employees must obviously be able to legally work in New Zealand;
- The business or self-employed must have at least a 40% decline in revenue across a 14 day period when compared to a typical 14 day revenue period within the 6 weeks prior to the lockdown;
- The business must have attempted to mitigate the financial impacts of the lockdown impacts;
- The business must retain the employees, that you apply for the wage subsidy for, for the period that wage subsidy covers; and
- The business is are only eligible for one MSD COVID-19 payment per employee at any given time.
- Charities and not-for-profit are also eligible if they meet the criteria. State sector organisations are not eligible, however some exemptions can be applied for (likely business units within those organisations, such as School Hostels and the like).
People will likely still need to isolate or be awaiting the results of COVID-19 tests, just a reminder that both the Leave Support Scheme and the Short-term Absence Payment are available to eligible employers to support eligible employees who need to stay home, and cannot work, while awaiting their test results. This is also available to eligible self-employed. You cannot apply for the leave support payment while you are receiving the Wage Subsidy for that employee; you can apply post the end of the Wage Subsidy period, if required.
If you have any questions or need any assistance, the team here at All Accounted For are happy to assist. The below buttons will take you through to the current application pages on the MSD Work and Income website, we expect you will find the application forms for the wage subsidy extension from next week.
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SUMMARY OF OTHER FINANCIAL SUPPORT AVAILABLE FOR BUSINESSES
As per last year, we have includes a summary of the other financial support measures available for businesses:
- Leave Support Scheme (Available to cover employees that need to self-isolate and cannot work from home);
- Short-Term Absence Payments (Available to cover employees, including self-employed, who cannot work from home while awaiting a COVID-19 test result);
- Small Business Cashflow (Loan) Scheme (Up to $100,000 interest-free up to 24 months, loans for up to 5 years, if repaid can apply for one additional time, applications open to 31 December 2023) - Details Here;
- Use of money interest and penalty remission around late tax payments, if business impacted by COVID-19;
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Apprenticeship Boost Scheme (Up to $1,000 per month for Apprentices enrolled into any approved training course, available until 4 August 2022); and
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Business Debt Hibernation (Assistance for businesses to manage their debts, including creditors).
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XERO ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME - SUPPORT MENTAL HEALTH & WELLBEING
This programme is still available free of charge to all starter, standard and premium Xero subscribers, until 31 March 2022 at this stage.
This service provides free and confidential wellbeing support to New Zealand small business owners, their employees and families. Users will have access to face-to-face, telephone, live chat and online counselling, as well as through an app.
This is one of the ways business owners can make a sizeable impact on mental wellness in the country.
For information on how to access Xero Assistance Programme, email xap@xero.com.
