Increased COVID-19 relief and grants announced for NSW businesses

Eligibility

Entities will be eligible if:

• Their turnover is 30 per cent lower than an equivalent two-week period in 2019
• Their annual turnover is between $75,000 and $50 million
• They maintain their full time, part time and long-term casual staffing level as of 13 July 2021

Payment Amount

• Eligible entities will receive 40% of their NSW payroll payments, at a minimum of $1,500 and a maximum of $10,000 per week
• For non-employing businesses, such as sole traders, the payment will be set at $1,000 per week

How to Apply

Businesses can register their interest from 14 July 2021 on the Service NSW website with the applications expected to open on 26 July 2021.

• NSW small business grants (see below for details on these grants) will be tax exempt
• Administrative relief will be provided to NSW taxpayers facing hardship. This includes reduced payment plans, no interest charged on late payments and varying instalments on request.

Eligibility

Entities will be eligible if they:

• have an ABN registered in NSW or can demonstrate they are physically located and primarily operating in NSW as at 1 June 2021. Only one grant is available for a single ABN.
• have total Australian annual wages below $10,000,000 as at 1 July 2020.
• have an annual turnover of more than $75,000 for the year ended 30 June 2020.
• have not applied for, or received, the Hospitality and Tourism COVID-19 Support Grant (see below), and
• have business costs for which there is no other government support available.

Grant Amount

Eligible businesses receiving either the Small Business Grant or the Hospitality and Tourism Grant can receive:

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

The decline in turnover is calculated by comparing the business’s turnover over a minimum two-week period after lockdown commenced (26 June ), to a minimum two-week period in June and/or July (not July 2020 as the desired comparison period is specifically June or July 2019 which was pre-COVID).

How to Apply for the Grant

Applications for the Grant can be made through the Service NSW website from 19 July 2021 with payments expected to be made to eligible businesses in four days from application.

Eligibility

Entities will be eligible if they:

• have annual turnover of more than $30,000 and under $75,000
• Can show a decline in turnover of at least 30%

Grant Amount

Eligible businesses will receive is up to $1500 per fortnight.

How to Apply for the Grant

Applications for the Grant can be made through the Service NSW website from 26 July 2021.

Payroll Deferrals

All businesses paying payroll tax in NSW will be able to defer their payroll tax.

• Payments due in the 2020-21 annual return may be deferred until 7 October 2021.
• Payments due on July and August wages may also be deferred until 7 October 2021
• Interest free repayment plans for up to 12 months may also be negotiated. More information on how to establish these payment arrangements will be provided by Revenue NSW by the end of August 2021.

Payroll Tax Relief

Businesses with annual payrolls between $1.2m and $10m will be eligible for a payroll tax relief of 25% of the business’ annual liability.

Eligibility

Entities will be eligible if they:

• Can show a decline in turnover of 30% – calculation method to be confirmed but assumed to be linked to eligibility under the Small and Medium Business Support Payments set out above, and
• Receive a payment under the Small and Medium Business Support Payments or NSW business support grants set out above.

How to apply

More information on this 25 per cent reduction will be provided by Revenue NSW by the end of August.

Land Tax Relief

Land Tax relief of up to 100% of the land tax liability will be available to residential and commercial landlords that reduce rents for their tenants subject to meeting the eligibility criteria.

Eligibility

Landlords will be eligible if they reduce the rent during any period between 1 July 2021 and 31 December 2021 to eligible tenants who are financially distressed. An eligible tenant is:

• Commercial tenants
  • Who have an annual turnover of up to $50 million; and
  • Eligible for the Micro-business COVID-19 Support Grant, the 2021 COVID-19 NSW Business Grant and/or the Small and Medium Business Support
    Payments scheme; or
• Residential tenants.

Qualifying criteria for a ‘financially distressed’ tenant are:

• Commercial tenants with reduced turnover of 30% or more against a previous comparable period
• Residential tenants with a reduction in household income of 25% or more.

Importantly, the rent reduction must not be required to be paid back at a later date.

Amount of Land Tax Relief

The land tax reduction will be the lesser of:

• The amount of rent reduction provided to an eligible tenant for any period between 1 July 2021 and 31 December 2021, or
• 100 per cent of the land tax attributable to the parcel of land leased to that tenant.

How to apply

Applications for the land tax relief program will be made available via Service NSW shortly.

Further details can be found in the guidelines released by Revenue NSW (see here). That webpage should be monitored for further updates.

Residential Tenancy Support Payment

For residential landlords that reduce their tenant’s rent and not liable to land tax, a grant of up to $1,500 may be available on application if qualifying criteria are met. Further details can be found on the Fair Trading NSW website