The past couple of years has been extremely challenging for many businesses in NSW. Thankfully, the NSW government have responded to these challenges and offers a range of grants and financial packages available to small businesses to help them survive and thrive beyond the challenges of COVID-19 and other events.
There is a wide range of grants available to businesses, many of which have different eligibility criteria and application requirements. It can be hard to keep track of all of the different schemes and requirements, especially if you are busy dealing with the day to day tasks of running your own business. To make things easier for you we have listed the important information below. If you want to find out more about small business grants NSW, and how we can help your business, call us today.
Jobs Plus Program
Under the Jobs Plus program, businesses who want to start or expand their operations in NSW, are provided with support to reduce costs and risks associated with growing or moving their business. Different eligibility criteria apply to Australian businesses and overseas businesses. Australian businesses need to employ at least 20 employees to be eligible, whereas overseas businesses need to employ at least 80 workers. To be eligible for the scheme, businesses need to demonstrate that they can create at least 30 new full-time equivalent jobs in NSW before the end of June 2024. Benefits of the scheme include payroll tax relief for up to 4 years, subsidised training packages and rebates for enabling infrastructure.
Export Assistance Grant
The Export Assistance Grant is currently paused for new applications due to a high volume of applications. The grant provided up to $10,000 for businesses that were exporting prior to the impacts of COVID-19, bushfires or drought. If additional funds for the scheme become available, the scheme will reopen for new applications.
2022 Small Business Support Programme
The 2022 Small Business Support programme was especially for small businesses in response to the Omicron variant of COVID-19. It only applies for February 2022, and the deadline for submissions is currently 29th April 2022, so you will need to apply quickly!
To be eligible for this programme, a business needs to have had a turnover between $75,000 and $50 million and experienced at least a 40% decline in turnover in January 2022, and the first two weeks of February 2022. As part of this programme, businesses that employ staff will receive 20% of their weekly payroll as a lump sum, up to a maximum of $5,000 per week. The minimum payment is $750 per week. Businesses that do not employ staff will receive $500 per week, which is paid as a $2,000 lump sum.
Small business fees and charges rebate
Small businesses, sole traders and non-profit organisations can apply to the NSW Government for a rebate to pay for government fees and charges. Under this scheme, the rebate has increased from $2,000 to $3,000. Eligible businesses that employ staff can use the rebate against 50% of the cost of rapid COVID tests. This rebate is open until 30 June 2022.
The small business rebate aims to help businesses recover from the impacts of COVID-19, and make sure that they can grow, by reducing business costs and freeing up more capital for growth. Businesses need to have total wages of less than $1.2 million in 2020-21, and have an Australian Business Number (ABN) or have a physical location and operation in NSW.
The rebate can be used to offset the following fees:
- Licence fees – such as food authority licence, liquor licence, tradesperson licence
- Event fees
- Outdoor seething fees
- Council rates
- Tolls for roads under business use
A full list of fees and charges that can be claimed is available in the NSW small business grants and rebates program guidelines.
Alfresco Restart Rebate
The Alfresco Restart Rebate is open for small or medium food and beverage businesses, that want to create or expand an outdoor dining area. The rebate is open to the first 5,000 small or medium food and beverage businesses that are eligible. Once this number is met the scheme will close, but at the time of writing this scheme is still open. Businesses who have created or expanded an outdoor dining area can claim up to $5,000 for expenses between 14 October 2021 to June 2022.
At the time of writing, the rebate claim period has been delayed, due to NSW Government’s efforts in helping residents and businesses affected by floods. If you are eligible for this scheme, you should still apply as soon as possible, but you may have a longer wait to find out if your application is successful.
SafeWork small business rebate
As part of the SafeWork small business rebate, eligible businesses that have less than 50 full-time employees can get up to $1,000 towards the cost of health and safety items for the workplace. In order to apply for the scheme, a business representative will need to attend an eligible SafeWork NSW event.
Commercial landlord hardship fund
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, many businesses had asked their landlords for help with their commercial rent. If your business rents commercial or retail space, and has provided rent waivers to your clients you may be able to claim a grant up up to $3,000 per month, per property. For this round of the hardship fund, eligible businesses need to have land holdings of less than $5 million, and need to have provided rent relief between 14 January 2022 and 13 March 2022. Businesses that have previously claimed for land tax relief in 2021 can also apply for this fund.
As you can see from the above information, there are a number of government grants, financial assistance packages and wage subsidy programmes available to NSW businesses which can ultimately have a tremendous impact on your business operations. In addition to the grant and financial packages listed above, there are also a number of voucher schemes available to NSW residents so as to spend in hospitality, art, tourism and accommodation facilities.
If you wish to find out more about the small business grant schemes available to your business, call us now and speak to one of our friendly representatives.
