$10,000 Small Business COVID Hardship Fund

In good news for Victorian Businesses, the Victorian Government has released its Small Business COVID Hardship Fund to assist small and medium businesses in need.  This fund is for those businesses who didn't qualify for the Business Cost Assistance Program funding.  For this one, you can forget those ANZIC codes!

In an interesting turn of events, businesses are encouraged to compare their best consecutive two-week trading period between 27 May and 10 September 2019, with their worst consecutive two-week trading period between 27 May and 10 September 2021. This will open this grant to many more businesses than we originally expected.

Eligible businesses will receive a grant of $10,000

To be eligible for this funding applicants must:

• Operate a business located within Victoria;
• have experienced a reduction in turnover of at least 70% for a minimum consecutive two week period comparable to a benchmark period in 2019 as a direct consequence of COVID-19 restrictions since 27 May 2021;
• have had an annual payroll of less than $10 million in 2019/20;
• be registered for GST on and from 28th July 2021; 
• not have received any of the current Covid Business Cost Assistance Funding support packages launched on or after 27 May 2021, including: Business Costs Assistance Program Round Two, Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund 2021 or the Victorian Events Support Program.

Employing businesses must also:

• be registered with Worksafe Victoria
• attest that the business is supporting its workers to access any paid leave entitlements, or that if a person can work from home, to work from home during the COVID-19 restrictions, and supporting their casual workers, where possible.

How do I apply?

This fund is a little different to previous grants.  To apply for this fund, your reduction in turnover needs to be demonstrated.  This can be done via one of three different ways:

1. Easy Way – Let Suntax apply for the Small Business COVID Hardship Fund on your behalf by clicking the button below. The cost to prepare this application is $450 plus GST, which is fully refundable if your grant application is not successful*

2. You can apply directly as a business owner via Hardship Fund and have Suntax supply the required letter to complete your application.  The cost to have your reports reviewed, verified and confirmed via letter is $330 plus GST*

3. You can apply directly as a business owner without verification from a qualified accountant or registered agent by registering your interest for the program via Hardship Fund.  Applicants may receive an Invitation to Apply email from the department. Applications received via the Invitation to Apply process may take up to 25 business days to process, due to the need for additional verification measures

*Note: If you are not on Xero and need Suntax to analyse your fortnightly turnover decline to assess eligibility, you will need to provide backups of your files or log in details. the cost of the 'non Xero' assessments will be (an additional) $120 + GST. The only reason for this (extra) charge is that Xero has automated reports that help Suntax assess your eligibility, whereas all other programs do not have this automation.

Example of a business that has a 70% reduction in turnover because of these current Victorian lockdowns:

Jim Bob ran a business as an electrician. In the 2 weeks between 1 June 2019 and 15 June 2019, his business turnover was $100,000. Because of the Victorian lockdowns from the 27th of May 2021, he was unable to perform all his normal services. In the 2 weeks between 1 August 2021 and 15 August 2021 his turnover was only $26,000, resulting in a 74% reduction in turnover. The great news is that Jim Bob would be eligible for this $10,000 grant. It is important to note that we do not need to compare the same fortnights in 2019 and 2021 to be eligible for this grant.

We understand this additional funding will be a great relief to a lot of businesses who previously did not fit into the list of ANZIC codes required for the last few rounds of support.  

Here at Suntax we once again would like to thank all of our team for their amazing support as they continue to work remotely through our busy ‘tax time’ period while also doing everything we can do to assist all of our clients with any Government Grants and other funding.   As always, we are committed to helping you through this in any way that we can.

Stay safe & stay masked, we are almost there!

The Suntax Team