Third Round of Business Support Fund Grants

$3bn+ Victorian Business Support Packages: The Update

Further details released on the Victorian Government two new support packages delivering over $3 billion in “cash grants, tax relief and cashflow support."

3rd round is industry specific. This was NOT disclosed when the grants were announced. Please ensure you check your eligibility following the steps in Section 1 below:

Applications are open until 23rd November 2020 or until funds are exhausted whichever is earlier.

GRANTS:

1. How to check eligibility for the third round of government grants

Round 3 of grants are now open, but are more restricted than anticipated:

1. Check the list of eligible ANZSIC industry codes here
2. Identify your own ANZSIC industry code via the ABR register.

Go to www.abr.gov.au
Log in and select 'Update your ABN details.'
Enter your ABN and search. You will get an ABN summary of your business including your ANZSIC code and business details

3. If your industry code is on the list of eligible for the grant, continue with your application here.

Need help on how to look up the figures required for your grant application? Check out this helpful video.

2. $100 million Melbourne City recovery fund

In partnership with the Melbourne City Council, grants will be available for businesses to move their activities outdoors to fund COVID-19 safe infrastructure and events. The Melbourne City Recovery Fund includes:

$30 million for small to medium sized businesses to rapidly adapt their operations to be more COVID Safe and comply with health directions
$30 million for COVID Safe events and cultural activities to attract visitors back to the central city
$40 million on infrastructure works to support the return of people to the central city through making the city more safe, accessible and sustainable.

3. $3k grants for sole traders

$3k grants will be available to sole traders who will continue to be affected by restrictions - tenants or licensees in a commercial premises or location who will be closed, heavily restricted, or restricted - under the second step of the recovery roadmap. Sole traders who operate from a home office or are able to reopen on 28 September 2020 are unlikely to qualify.

Approximately 33,000 sole traders are expected to qualify for grants generally in accommodation and tourism, non-permitted retail, media and film production, gyms, creative studios, outdoor entertainment, private museums and galleries, etc.

4. Creation of a Licenced Venue Fund

Grants of between $10,000 and $30,000 for licenced venues. And, liquor license fees for 2021 will be waived. Once again, the details on these initiatives are unclear.

5. Outdoor Eating and Entertainment Package

Grants of $5k will be available to help take the café culture outdoors. The grants will be available to licensed and unlicensed cafés, restaurants, takeaway food businesses, pubs, taverns, bars and clubs with a payroll of less than $3 million.
$29.5k will go to local councils to support the implementation of swift and streamlined permit, enforcement and monitoring processes - $500k for city and $250k for rural councils.

6. Support for Alpine resorts

Grants of up to $20,000 to help businesses cover their resort fees.

PAYROLL TAX
Payroll tax will be deferred (not waived) for businesses with payrolls up to $10 million for the full 2020-21 financial year. Originally the deferral applied to the first half of 2020-21. Businesses with payrolls of $10m or over can defer payroll tax for the first quarter of 2020-21 under previously announced initiatives.

FEES AND CHARGES
The 50% stamp duty discount for commercial and industrial property across all of regional Victoria brought forward to 1 January 2021 and the Vacant Residential Land Tax waived for properties that are vacant in 2020.

GENERAL
Grants of up to $20,000 for chambers of commerce to support members. Plus, funding for a return post COVID-19 including $44 million for business workshops to assist with digital transformation and investment in products such as Shopify and Squareonline. And, $8.5m in additional funding for the Click for Vic website promoting Victorian businesses.

MORE INFORMATION

Related News

14 Feb

Fringe Benefits Tax - All the need-to-knows

On 31 March 2020, the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) year ends. With the ever increasing budget deficits, the ATO will be reviewing whether all employers who should be paying FBT are, and that they are paying the right amount. Who needs to lodge a FBT return? Find out here.

14 Dec '20

2021 Investment Risks & Opportunities

With the borders between the State and Territories all but open and 2021 in sight, there is a hunger for a return to normal. With Australia's desire to ‘get on with things,' sentiment reached its highest level since November 2013 and Christmas spending is expected to be consistent with previous years.

18 Nov '20

Tax deductions for investing in your business

Stimulating investment is high on the Government’s agenda. To encourage spending, the 2020-21 Budget introduced a measure that allows businesses to immediately deduct the cost of new depreciable assets and the cost of improvements to existing assets in the first year of use.