The Commonwealth and State Governments are supporting households and businesses to deal with the economic consequences of Coronavirus. The initial Commonwealth Government Economic Response was announced on 12 March 2020 with a second stimulus announced on 22 March to support workers, businesses and the community.
The Commonwealth Government’s economic response targets three areas:
Support for Individuals and Households
State Governments have also launched their own stimulus packages in response to COVID-19.
Click on the links below to view the stimulus package available in each state and territory:
The Government is supporting businesses to manage cash flow challenges and retain employees. Assistance includes cash flow support and measures to provide relief for financially distressed businesses. Elements of the Economic Response for Australian businesses include:
Download our free Excel Calculator to discover the amount your business can receive from the Government Stimulus Package.
The Government is providing up to $100,000 to eligible small and medium-sized businesses, and not for-profits (NFPs) that employ people, with a minimum payment of $20,000. These payments will help businesses and NFPs with their cash flow so they can keep operating, pay their rent, electricity and other bills and retain staff.
Under the enhanced scheme, employers will receive a payment equal to 100 per cent of their salary and wages withheld (up from 50 per cent), with the maximum payment being increased from $25,000 to $50,000. In addition, the minimum payment is being increased from $2,000 to $10,000.
An additional payment is also being introduced in the July – October 2020 period. Eligible entities will receive an additional payment equal to the total of all of the Boosting Cash Flow for Employers payments they have received. This means that eligible entities will receive at least $20,000 up to a total of $100,000 under both payments.
The Government is temporarily increasing the threshold at which creditors can issue a statutory demand on a company and the time companies have to respond to statutory demands they receive. The package also includes temporary relief for directors from any personal liability for trading while insolvent, and providing temporary flexibility in the Corporations Act 2001 to provide temporary and targeted relief from provisions of the Act to deal with unforeseen events that arise as a result of the Coronavirus health crisis.
The Government is increasing the instant asset write-off threshold from $30,000 to $150,000 and expanding access to include businesses with aggregated annual turnover of less than $500 million (up from $50 million) until 30 June 2020.
The Government is introducing a time limited 15 month investment incentive (through to 30 June 2021) to support business investment and economic growth over the short term, by accelerating depreciation deductions. Businesses with a turnover of less than $500 million will be able to deduct 50 per cent of the cost of an eligible asset on installation, with existing depreciation rules applying to the balance of the asset’s cost.
The Government is supporting small business to retain their apprentices and trainees. Eligible employers can apply for a wage subsidy of 50 per cent of the apprentice’s or trainee’s wage for 9 months from 1 January 2020 to 30 September 2020. Where a small business is not able to retain an apprentice, the subsidy will be available to a new employer that employs that apprentice. Employers will be reimbursed up to a maximum of $21,000 per eligible apprentice or trainee ($7,000 per quarter).
The Australian Government is providing financial assistance to Australians. This assistance includes income support payments, payments to support households and temporary early releases of superannuation.
Over the next six months, the Government is temporarily expanding eligibility to income support payments and establishing a new, time-limited Coronavirus supplement to be paid at a rate of $550 per fortnight. This will be paid to both existing and new recipients of JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance Jobseeker, Parenting Payment, Farm Household Allowance and Special Benefit.
The Government is providing two separate $750 payments to social security, veteran and other income support recipients and eligible concession card holders. The first payment will be made from 31 March 2020 and the second payment will be made from 13 July 2020.
The Government is allowing individuals affected by the Coronavirus to access up to $10,000 of their superannuation in 2019-20 and a further $10,000 in 2020-21. Individuals will not need to pay tax on amounts released and the money they withdraw will not affect Centrelink or Veterans’ Affairs payments.
The Government is temporarily reducing superannuation minimum drawdown requirements for account-based pensions and similar products by 50 per cent for 2019-20 and 2020-21. This measure will benefit retirees holding these products by reducing the need to sell investment assets to fund minimum drawdown requirements.
On 12 March, the Government announced a 0.5 percentage point reduction in both the upper and lower social security deeming rates. The Government will now reduce these rates by another 0.25 percentage points. As of 1 May 2020, the upper deeming rate will be 2.25 per cent and the lower deeming rate will be 0.25 per cent. The reductions reflect the low interest rate environment and its impact on the income from savings.
The Government, the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority have taken coordinated action to ensure the flow of credit in the Australian economy. Timely access to credit is vital for businesses to manage the impacts of the Coronavirus.
Under the Coronavirus SME Guarantee Scheme, the Government will provide a guarantee of 50 per cent to SME lenders to support new short-term unsecured loans to SMEs. The Scheme will guarantee up to $40 billion of new lending.
The Government is cutting red tape by providing a temporary exemption from responsible lending obligations for lenders providing credit to existing small business customers. This reform will help small businesses get access to credit quickly and efficiently.
For businesses whose total grouped Australian wages for the 2019/20 financial year is less than $10M:
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The New South Wales government is also scrapping certain fees and charges that apply to businesses in vulnerable sectors.
These include fees for bars, cafes, restaurants and trades people.
The state government has pledged $250 million to employ additional cleaning staff for public infrastructure, such as public transport assets, schools and public buildings.
The government has announced $250 million to spend on fast-tracking the maintenance of public assets, including social housing and fencing, as well as $500 million to bring forward capital works and maintenance.
The city of Melbourne is offering $5 million in grants for small to medium sized businesses to invest in online and e-commerce capabilities, take part in training and professional development, and undertake capital works.
Grants include:
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If you are an employer (or part of a group of employers) who pays $6.5 million or less in Australian taxable wages, you may receive an email about a:
You can also apply for a deferral of payroll tax for the 2020 calendar year. (If you have already applied for a deferral, you do not need not reapply – it will be extended.)
Payroll Tax Concession Summary
If you are an employer (or part of a group of employers) who pays more than $6.5 million in Australian taxable wages and have been negatively affected (directly or indirectly) by coronavirus, you can apply for a:
A business is directly or indirectly affected by coronavirus if their current turnover, profit, customers, bookings, retail sales, supply contracts or other factors are negatively affected compared with normal operating conditions.
💡 How to apply?
All Territory businesses will be able to access a $10,000 grant, followed by an additional $10,000 grant if they contribute $10,000 of their own.
From today, eligible businesses will be able to apply for two payments:
Immediate Survival Payment
An initial lump sum payment directed to businesses to help offset immediate cost pressures and provide time to plan.
Business will provide a certified financial/payroll statement identifying number of employees pre-shutdown.
Assessment of eligibility criteria includes demonstrating the impact of the restrictions on the business, including reduction in turnover, impact of fixed costs and employment reduction.
Rapid Adaption Payment
This is the first stage of the Small Business Survival Fund. The Business Advisory Group is continuing to meet and will provide advice for the next stage of the package.
Businesses can complete an application form on business.nt.gov.au/recovery from 5pm todayand will be assessed using the following criteria; that they:
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