Update on Covid-19 Government Assistance

Kia ora koutou, Hi all,

We hope all is well in your individual bubbles ? This is just a quick update re support available from government for business.

Applications for round two of the Wage Subsidy Scheme are now open.   

Applications for the second payment must be in to MSD by 11.59pm Thursday 16 September 2021. Eligible businesses (anywhere in the country) can apply for this wages subsidy if they still expect a loss of 40% of revenue as a result of the Alert Level increase announced on 17/08/2021.

Employers or Self-employed do not have to have already claimed the first round of payments. Employers who have already claimed the first round of payments can still apply for the second (and subsequent) round of payments & you should receive an email from MSD telling you when you can apply for this next round.  You cannot apply for another subsidy until 2 weeks from the date of your first application at round 1, so if you have been declined please check your dates.

Eligible businesses will receive $600 per week, per full-time equivalent employee, and $359 per week, per part-time employee. 

We are seeing much more active checks being done by MSD this year, so if you haven't received a subsidy yet, within about 3 days of applying, then its likely that MSD have been in contact with IRD to check more details on your business, or employees.  In some cases they've been in touch with Diane to establish the nature of the business trading and the shareholder -employees.

Changes to Resurgence Support Payment (RSP) eligibility

Last Friday the Government announced a change to the eligibility criteria for the RSP.  A business now only has to have been operating for at least a month before the alert level increase on 17 August 2021. This is a change from the original criteria - which was 6 months.

This means if your business has been in operation since 17 July you may now be eligible for the Resurgence Support Payment. Note - you still need to meet all the other criteria.

The change will be active on the Inland Revenue's website from 9 September 2021. Newly eligible businesses need to wait until then to apply, while those businesses whose applications were declined due to not meeting the previous 6 month criteria, will be contacted by Inland Revenue and asked to reapply from 9 September 2021.

The RSP is available if a business incurs a drop of 30 percent in revenue over 7 days, compared with a typical 7 day period in the last 6 weeks, as a result of the Alert Level increase.

The RSP is worth up to $1,500 plus $400 per full-time equivalent employee, (up to a maximum of 50 full-time employees, i.e. a maximum of $21,500).  Or if less, then 4 x the reduction in your income.

The current deadline for applying for a RSP is 23 September.

Before you apply, please consider your circumstances carefully and make sure you understand all of the obligation in the declaration that you are agreeing to.   Their expectation is that you are taking active measures to mitigate the impact of the lockdown on your business.

Both MSD and IRD can review and/or audit the information provided and may take action in the event that the information provided is false or misleading.

A reminder that if you receive an RSP you need to include it in your next GST return, it is intended to cover business overheads, and owners should therefore not withdraw it from their business bank account.

Note that there is no word of a second round being made available for RSP.

There are additional support payments available to businesses if required for employee's special leave - like the Leave Support Scheme (LSS) & Short-Term Absence Payment (STAP). 

Please feel free to get in touch with us if you wish to discuss or require assistance with any of the business support mechanisms mentioned above.

At this current time our staff are working from home, and our offices remain closed. You can still reach us on our usual emails, or phone Diane on mobile (021) 2929029. 



Kia kaha!