14th July, 2021
As the NSW lockdown continues, support payments, grants and payroll tax deferrals are among measures being taken by the Government to help stricken businesses.
With another week of lockdown looking more than likely for millions of people in Greater Sydney and many of its surrounding regions, both the state and federal governments have joined forces to offer stimulus to businesses that have been financially impacted.
The proposed support package is expected to offer financial assistance to approximately 500,000 businesses affected by the ongoing lockdown and will be aimed at ensuring that these entities hold onto their all of their staff during the lockdown period.
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According to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, this support scheme has been designed to ease the burden of the stay-at-home requirements across the state.
“What this does is give us peace of mind, and a breather for everybody in that when you provide that economic support for individuals and businesses, it gives us the freedom to do what we need on the health side,” she said.
Depending on a business’s payroll level, payments between $1,500 and $10,000 will be made available for businesses that can demonstrate a 30 percent decline in turnover when compared against the same period in 2019.
Two key conditions of receiving the support payments include keeping the same staff headcount across all full-time, part-time and long-term casual employees from 13 July 2021, and having an annual turnover between $75,000 and $50 million.
Smaller businesses with turnovers of less than $75,000 but more than $30,000 will be eligible to receive payments of up to $1,500, as long as they can demonstrate the same 30 percent decline in turnover levels.
Sole traders have also featured in the support package, with payments of up to $1,000 available to them as well.
To offer further support to individuals who have been negatively affected by the latest lockdown, the Federal Government’s existing disaster payment scheme will increase from $325 to $375 per week for individuals who have lost up to 20 hours of work, and a boost from $500 to $600 for those experiencing work losses beyond 20 hours per week.
These increased payments will come into effect once the state enters its fourth week of lockdown, and according to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, all other states will be eligible for this increased disaster payment scheme if a lockdown persists for longer than three weeks.
“It is in the national interest that we now put in place a different set of arrangements with the states and territories,” Morrison said on Tuesday.
READ: Working from home deductions for sole traders and small business owners
As part of the raft of increased support measures taken by the state and federal governments, NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet promised all payroll tax liabilities would be deferred for two months in recognition of the extended lockdown.
The NSW state government has also reintroduced an eviction moratorium for tenants who have suffered a loss of at least a quarter of their income and is offering payments of up to $1,500 to landlords experiencing a loss of income as a result of the unpaid rent of lockdown-affected tenants.
“We will also be providing protections when it comes to residential tenancies,” Perrottet said.
“There will be no evictions for the next 60 days for those doing it tough, for workers who had a reduction in income by 25 percent.”
According to Perrottet, the latest support measurers are expected to cost the NSW government $4.1 billion, and will see the Commonwealth contribute $5 billion as well.