Tens of thousands of South Australian small and medium-sized businesses that suffer a significant loss of income or have been forced to close as a result of the state’s seven day lockdown will be offered a $3,000 emergency cash grant as part of a major financial assistance package announced yesterday by the Marshall Liberal Government.
The new Business Support Package – worth about $100 million – will assist an estimated 50,000 eligible SMEs across the state that are affected by the new lockdown restrictions.
It will help businesses cover ongoing operating costs such as rent, power bills, supplier and raw material costs and other fees, and be able to re-open when restrictions ease.
The major support package also includes a new $1,000 cash grant for eligible small businesses who don’t employ staff (eg non-employing sole traders).
Applications for the grant are expected to open within the next two weeks via the Treasury website and grants will be processed as quickly as possible.
To be eligible for the one-off $3,000 emergency cash grant, a business must, as at 12:01am Tuesday 20 July 2021:
- Be located within South Australia
- Have an annual turnover of $75,000 or more in 2020-21 or 2019-20, and be registered for GST
- Employ people in South Australia
- Have an Australia-wide payroll of less than $10 million in 2019-20
- Have a valid Australian Business Number (ABN)
- Experienced at least a 30 per cent reduction (compared to the week prior) in turnover due to the restricted trading conditions
To be eligible for the one-off $1,000 emergency cash grant, a non-employing business must meet the criteria listed above excluding the requirement to employ people.
In another major announcement, the State Government will provide fully-funded income support payments of up to $600 per week for eligible workers in regional SA, who live or work outside of the Commonwealth-declared ‘Hotspot’ local government areas (and, therefore, not entitled to the Federal Government’s $375 or $600 per week support payments).