Government financial assistance to stay afloat (For Clubs)
Payroll tax relief
Employers paying $6.5 million or less in Australian taxable wages per year can apply for:
- a refund of its’ payroll tax for two months; and
- a payroll tax holiday (i.e. no payroll tax to be paid) for three months.
You can also apply for a deferral of payroll tax for the 2020 calendar year.
This means that the Club will not need to pay payroll tax returns for the 2020 calendar year. The Club must continue to lodge returns (without paying them) during this time.
Employers paying more than $6.5 million in Australian taxable wages per year can apply for:
- a deferral of payroll tax for the 2020 calendar year; and
- a refund of its’ payroll tax for 2 months.
The Club can apply for the deferral
here.
Cash for Clubs who employ staff
The Australian Government is providing up to $100,000 to eligible small and medium sized businesses and not-for-profits that employ people.
Small and medium sized business entities and not-for-profits with an aggregated annual turnover under $50 million and that employ workers will be eligible.
The payment will be delivered by the ATO as an automatic credit in the activity statement system from 28 April 2020 upon employers lodging eligible upcoming activity statements.
Eligible employers that withhold tax to the ATO on their employees’ salary and wages will receive a payment equal to 100 per cent of the amount withheld, up to a maximum payment of $50,000.
Eligible employers that pay salary and wages will receive a minimum payment of $10,000 even if they are not required to withhold tax.
Quarterly lodgers will be eligible to receive the payment for the quarters ending March 2020 and June 2020.
Monthly lodgers will be eligible to receive the payment for the March 2020, April 2020, May 2020 and June 2020 lodgements.
Clubs do not need to apply for this assistance. It will be automatically credited following the Club’s lodgement of its’ monthly or quarterly activity statement. For further information, please
click here.
Support for apprentices and trainees
The Government is supporting small business to retain their apprentices and trainees.
Small businesses employing fewer than 20 full-time employees who retain an apprentice or trainee can apply for a wage subsidy of 50 per cent of the apprentice’s or trainee’s wage paid during the 9-month period from 1 January 2020 to 30 September 2020.
To be eligible, the apprentice or trainee must have been in training with a small business as at 1 March 2020.
Clubs will be able to register for the subsidy from early April 2020.
Covid-19 Jobs Support Loans
The Queensland Government is providing low interest loans of up 50% of an entity’s annual wage expense, to a maximum of $250,000 to assist with carry-on expenses such as employee wages, rent and rates and other related expenditure.
All loans will be provided for a term of 10 years, with no repayments or interest charged for the first year, followed by two years of interest only payments. Principal and interest repayments will commence from the third year for the remainder of the loan term.
An interest rate of 2.5% will apply to the loan from the commencement of the second year and for the remainder of the loan term.
You can find further information about the Covid-19 Jobs Support Loans
here.
Loan Guarantee Scheme
Small businesses with a turnover of less than $50 million per annum will be eligible to receive a guarantee from the Australian Government for new unsecured loans to be used for working capital.
The following terms will apply:
- Maximum total size of loans is $250,000 per borrower.
- The loans will be up to three years, with an initial six month repayment holiday.
- The loans will be in the form of unsecured finance, meaning that borrowers will not have to provide an asset as security for the loan.
The Australian Government is also providing an exemption from responsible lending obligations for lenders providing credit to existing small business customers to enable small businesses to access credit quickly and efficiently.
For more information please
click here.
Temporary relief for financially distressed businesses
Statutory Demands
A creditor issuing a statutory demand on a company is a common way for a company to enter liquidation.
The Australian Government is temporarily increasing the current minimum threshold for creditors issuing a statutory demand on a company from $2,000 to $20,000. This will apply for six months.
The statutory timeframe for a company to respond to a statutory demand will be increased from 21 days to 6 months. This will give a debtor more time to consider repayment arrangements before they could be forced into bankruptcy.
Trading while insolvent
Directors are personally liable if a company trades while insolvent.
During the coronavirus health crisis, directors will be temporarily relieved of their duty to prevent insolvent trading with respect to any debts incurred in the ordinary course of the company’s business for six months.
Electricity Bills
All small and medium size Queensland businesses that consume less than 100,000 kilowatt hours will automatically receive a $500.00 rebate on their electricity bill.
Liquor License
Liquor licensing fees will be waived for all Clubs that have been impacted by enforced safety industry shutdowns.
Commercial leases
There will be a temporary six-month moratorium on eviction for non-payment of rent across commercial tenancies.
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that responsibility remains with landlords, tenants and financial institutions to enter into meaningful discussions and work together ‘to ensure that, where possible, businesses can survive and be there on the other side’.
The Prime Minister set out the following principles:
- tenants and landlords are encouraged to agree on rent relief or temporary amendments to leases;
- rental payments are to be reduced or waived for a defined period for impacted tenants;
- tenants will have the ability to terminate leases and/or seek mediation or conciliation on the grounds of financial distress;
- commercial property owners should ensure that any benefits received in respect of their properties should also benefit their tenants in proportion to the economic impact caused by coronavirus;
- landlords and tenants who have not been significantly affected by coronavirus are expected to honour their existing lease and rental agreements; and
- it is the intention that the cost of deferral of losses should be shared between landlords and tenants, with Commonwealth, state and territory governments, local government and financial institutions to consider mechanisms to provide assistance.