Supporting Your Business During COVID-19
Wage Subsidy
Wage subsidies will be available for all employers that are significantly impacted by COVID-19 and are struggling to retain employees as a result.
Wage subsidies will be available for businesses significantly impacted by COVID-19 including:
- employers that are struggling to retain employees
- sole traders
- self-employed
- existing businesses
- registered charities
- non-government organisations
- incorporated societies
- post settlement governance entities
- new businesses less than a year old.
The subsidy is $585.80 per week for a full time employee (20 hrs or more) or $350.00 per week for a part time employee (less than 20 hrs).
The payment will be made as a lump sum for a period covering 12 weeks.
There is no maximum for the amount of assistance a business can receive (was originally $150,000 when announced last week). This is to enable more support for workers in medium and large sized businesses.
Business must be able to prove a reduction in revenue, whether is 30% down on the same time last year, or 30% down on the previous month for new businesses operating less than a year.
Businesses can apply through Work and Income https://workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/covid-19-support.html#null
We recommend these payments are not returned for GST, but will need to be included for income tax purposes.
Other measures
In addition to the extension of the wage subsidy scheme, the Government has announced that it has made in-principle decisions regarding a number of other economic and financial measures. The detailed design and delivery of this support is currently under development. Further details will be provided by the Government later this week.
New income support measures
The Government is investigating new income support for all workers, in addition to the wage subsidy scheme described above, in the light of the requirements to close businesses and other measures under Alert Level 4.
Temporary support for borrowers
The Government, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and retail banks have agreed the following measures to support those affected by the move to Alert Level 4:
- temporary support for mortgage holders, and
- a business finance guarantee scheme.
Rent freezes and tenant protection
All rent increases will be frozen and the Government may introduce measures to ensure that tenants cannot be evicted without cause (i.e. no-cause terminations) during this period.
