Govt. Announces Small Business Cash-flow Scheme

The government has announced a plan to provide interest free loans for a year to small businesses which have been impacted by the COVID-19 to help support their cash-flow needs and fixed costs as well.

The scheme will provide an assistance of up to $100,000 to firms employing 50 or fewer full time employees. The scheme was introduced by the government to address the needs of small and medium sized businesses which wasn’t being met by the banks in question.

The scheme will provide $10,000 to every firm, and an additional $1800 per equivalent full-time employee. To further encourage businesses the loans will be interest free if they’re paid back within a year. If the loan amount cannot be repaid within a year, then a 3% interest fee will be charged for a maximum period of five years. Repayments are not required for the first two years.

The eligibility criteria for this scheme is similar to the Wage Subsidy Scheme. In addition to this businesses will also have to declare that they are a viable business, and that the money from the scheme will be used to core business operating costs, and will have to enter into a legally binding loan contract.

Inland Revenue will administer the payments and repayments of this scheme to provide immediate support to businesses that have been adversely impacted. Applications for the scheme will be open from May12th, and businesses will apply for the loan payment through myIR.

More information on the loan, including the eligibility criteria and a calculator to determine how much a business can borrow/ qualify for will be available in the upcoming days.

Keep watching this space to know more about the scheme, and if you have any issues or queries, feel free to get in touch with us at info@jzr.co.nz or call us at +64-9-972-2236