As Metro Melbourne suffers through a second week of hard lockdown, the Victorian & Commonwealth Governments have announced a $367 million extension to current support programs for Victorian Businesses, expected to benefit over 100,000 businesses across our city.
Here are the 3 things that you need to know as a business owner.
1. The Small Business COVID Hardship Fund is offering $10,000 grants.
The Small Business COVID Hardship Fund is now offering grants of $10,000 to small and medium-sized businesses across the state. A small percentage of Sole Traders & non-employing businesses may also be eligible.
This fund aims to provide support to businesses that have been ineligible for previous business support programs. Applications opened yesterday on the 12th of August, through the Business Victoria website.
It’s focused on businesses that are legally allowed to operate but are restricted in their ability to generate revenue. This includes:
- Those affected by depleted foot traffic – like CBD pharmacies or takeaway food outlets located in closed shopping centres.
- It may also cover businesses that can remain open, yet all their regular clients are closed, like hospitality & cinema suppliers or certain tradespeople.
To be eligible for this grant, you must prove a 70% loss in revenue and not have received any other COVID support. As your accountants, you’ll need us to sign off on this to successfully apply.
2. Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund recipients will get a big top-up.
Automatic payments of $5,000, $10,000 and $20,0000 will be made to more than 7,000 hospitality venues that have previously been approved for grants under the Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund program.
Payments are expected to start coming through in the following weeks, and the amounts will be tiered according to the capacity of the premises:
- $5,000 for a capacity of up to 99 patrons
- $10,000 for a capacity of 100 to 499 patrons
- $20,000 for a capacity of 500+
3. Business Costs Assistance Program to also receive top-ups.
Businesses, including Sole Traders, who have previously received payments from the Business Costs Assistance Program will also automatically receive top-up payments of $2,800.
These payments are expected to start coming through in the next 7 days.
We hope these updates have been helpful to you. Lockdown is tough on everyone, and we’re always here to support our clients through any obstacles they might be facing.
If you’re planning on accessing the Small Business COVID Hardship Grant, you need to get in touch with us right away. We can sign off on your revenue loss and make sure your application checks out.
