Acknowledging the difficulty that business operators have faced, the NSW Treasurer has announced a package of measures to support small businesses impacted by Covid-19 over January and February 2022.
The NSW Small Business Support package provides eligible employing businesses with a lump sum payment of 20% weekly payroll, up to a maximum of $5,000 per week for the month of February 2022. The minimum weekly payment for employers is $750 per week.
Eligibile non-employing businesses will receive $500 per week (paid as a lump sum of $2,000).
To access the package, businesses must:
The support package only covers the month of February 2022. Applications for support are expected to open mid-February.
The NSW small business fees and charges rebate has been increased from $2,000 to $3,000. In addition, the rebate has been extended to cover up to 50% of the cost of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) purchased by the business to protect staff and clients. The rebate for RAT tests will be available “by March” and is unlikely to cover RAT tests purchased prior to the funding coming online to prevent additional pressures on the RAT test supply chain.
The rebate is not a cash payment, but a digital credit that businesses can draw down on to offset the cost of eligible NSW and local government fees and charges.
Note that there is an existing $5,000 small business Alfresco Restart rebate available for small and medium food and beverage businesses wanting to create or expand their outdoor dining area. Applications for this rebate are open until the end of April 2022 (or when the allocation is exhausted).
The fees and charges rebate is available to sole traders, small business, and not-for-profits that have:
Already registered businesses will receive an automatic top up of $1,000 and newly registering businesses will receive a rebate of $3,000. Only one rebate is available for each ABN.
The protections under the Retail and Other Commerical Leases (Covid-19) Regulation 2021 for small retail and commercial tenants will be extended for an additional two months, until 13 March 2022. This regulation prohibits certain actions by landlords (such as lock out or eviction) unless they have first renegotiated rent with eligible tenants and attempted mediation.
The grant provides up to $3,000 per month (GST inclusive), per property, for eligible landlords who have provided rental waivers to affected tenants.
Rent waived must comprise at least half of any rental reduction provided. The remaining portion may be a rental deferral. The grant does not apply to rent deferrals.
Grants are paid as a lump sum amount for the rent waived.
The information contained on this website and in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Taxation, legal and other matters referred to on this website and in this article are of a general nature only and are based on our interpretation of laws existing at the time and should not be relied upon in place of appropriate professional advice. Those laws may change from time to time.
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