VIC COVID-19 Business Support Measures & Eligibility

Contents

• Small Business COVID Hardship Fund
• Business Costs Assistance Program
• Business Continuity Fund
• Regional Tourism Support Package

Small Business COVID Hardship Fund

The Victorian Government’s Small Business COVID Hardship Fund will assist eligible employing and non-employing small and medium businesses with grants of $14,000:

• whose operations have been severely impacted by COVID-19 restrictions that have been in place since 27 May 2021
• that have experienced at least a 70% reduction in turnover as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions
• that are ineligible for other key COVID-19 Victorian Government business grant programs that have been announced since 27 May 2021.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the grant, a business must:

• Be located within Victoria (address based on the ABN registration, or workplace address registered with WorkSafe Victoria)
• as a direct consequence of COVID-19 restrictions since 27 May 2021 (Impacted Period), have experienced a reduction in turnover of at least 70 per cent for a minimum consecutive two-week period comparable to a Benchmark Period in 2019 (note alternative arrangements are available for businesses who do not have a trading history in 2019).
  Impacted period: 27 May 2021 to 10 September 2021
  Benchmark Period: 27 May 2019 to 10 September 2019 (for businesses actively trading in 2019) or 1 February 2021 to 28 July 2021 (for businesses not actively trading in 2019).
• Have annual Victorian payroll of up to $10 million in 2019-20 on an ungrouped basis
• Be registered for GST on and from 28 July 2021
• Hold an ABN on and from 28 July 2021
• Be registered with the responsible Federal or State regulator (e.g. ASIC, ACNC, CAV) for incorporated associations.

How to Apply

Applications will need to be made online and a letter will need to be provided by your accountant to confirm your turnover decline. Applications close 10 September 2021. For detailed guidelines, see here.

Business Costs Assistance Program

The Victorian Government has expanded on the Business Cost Assistance program with multiple expansions. Currently Round Three is available to eligible businesses who have received Round Two or the Round Two July Extension.

Round Three is automatically paid to those eligible businesses as an additional $2,800 payment.

Business Continuity Fund

The Business Continuity Fund provides a $5,000 payment to businesses in 24 sectors that were affected by additional capacity limits when reopening in late July 2021 under COVID-19 restrictions.

This payment will go to recipients of the Business Cost Assistance Program Round Two and the Business Costs Assistance Program Round Two July Extension who are in the 24 sectors noted in the link above.

Recipients will be contacted from mid-August to confirm they will receive a payment. Payments will be processed automatically.

Businesses in the Melbourne CBD who receive the $5,000 payment will receive an additional $2,000 payment.

Regional Tourism Support Package

The Regional Tourism Support Package is split in to three initiative to assist businesses, including accommodation providers, attractions and experiences, to manage the impact of recent restrictions due to COVID-19. The three initiatives include:

• Travel vouchers valued at $200 each to encourage Victorians to support regional tourism operators (80,000 vouchers expected to be made available)
• Business Costs Assistance Program Tourism Supplement ‘Top Up Payment’ – an additional $4,500 in extra support for tourism businesses.
• Alpine Support Program providing grants of up to $15,000 for businesses in the alpine resorts and Dinner Plain.

Applications for the initiatives are not yet available however will be made available on Business Victoria’s website once open.

The above details are based on the information available on Business Victoria’s website as at 17 August 2021. As details are continually being updated in response to the on-going impact of COVID-19, we recommend you continue to check the government website to ensure you are kept up to date with the current information available.

If you require assistance in determining your eligibility, assistance with the application process or an Accountant’s Letter, our team at BLG Business Advisers are Wollongong Accountants and are here to help so please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

If you require assistance in determining your eligibility, assistance with the application process or an Accountant’s Letter, our team at BLG Business Advisers is here to help so please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

We wish you and your business every success!

*This information is relevant at the time of publishing and is subject to change*