COVID-19: Government Relief programs for affected Small Businesses

Ecommerce platforms are beginning to inform their users of vital information regarding those affected by COVID-19. Today Shopify have kindly supplied a list for affected small businesses of Governments roll outs of financial relief and various programs to support small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The information below was provided by Shopify.

Americas

Canada

• Small Business Loan: Low-interest loans up to $100,000 if your business has been generating revenues for at least 24 months.
• Purchase order financing: Cover up to 90% of the purchase order amount to ease cash flow to your suppliers.

United States

• Federal: Low-interest loans up to $2 million through the Small Business Administration for states impacted by COVID-19.
• City of New York: Zero-interest loans of up to $75,000 for businesses with less than 100 employees. 40% of payroll costs covered for businesses with less than 5 employees.
• City of San Francisco: $10,000 for employee salaries and rent for businesses with less than 5 employees.
• City of Sacramento: Zero-interest loans of up to $25,000.

Europe

United Kingdom

• Business interruption loan: Recover 2 weeks of sick pay due to COVID-19 for businesses with less than 250 employees. £3,000 for businesses whose property’s rateable value is less than £15,000.
• Rates relief (Scotland): 75% rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure sectors with a rateable value of less than £69,000 from April 1, 2020.
• SMB grants (Scotland): Grants of at least £3,000 to small businesses in sectors facing the worst economic impact of COVID-19.

Germany

• Short-time work allowance: Short-time work allowance, if a minimum of 10% of your workforce if affected.

Italy

• Self-employed allowance: Self-employed workers are paid a monthly allowance of 500 euros for three months for the municipalities affected by COVID-19.

Netherlands

• Bridging loans for small businesses: The government is offering the ability to receive a loan or an overdraft on your bank account for SMBs that are missing income or production due to COVID-19.
• Shorten working hours for employees: For businesses with employees, the government is offering the ability to shorten working hours and request unemployment benefits.

Spain

• Defer tax debts: Small businesses can defer payment of tax debts, or settle them in installments, an interest-free period of six months.

Sweden

• Short term leave subsidy: Employers receive more than 90% of employees’ salaries who have to take short term leave due to COVID-19.
• Sick pay relief: The government will temporarily take on the full cost of all sick pay costs in April and May. Self-employed persons are also compensated by receiving a standardized sickness benefit for days 1 to 14.

Asia

Japan

• Financing support: 100% guarantee on loans if year-over-year sales decrease by more than 20%, and 80% if year-over-year sales decrease by 5%.
• Productivity subsidies: IT tools leading to improvements such as the efficiency of back-office operations are eligible for a subsidy between 300,000 to 4,500,000 yen.

Singapore

• Jobs support: A rebate of 8% of the wages, up to a monthly wage cap of $3,600, for three months (provided by July 2020).
• Wage credit: The government will co-fund wage increases for Singaporean employees earning a gross monthly wage of up to $5,000.
• Corporate income tax rebate: A 25% rebate of tax payable, capped at $15,000 per company.
• Property tax rebate: A 15% property tax rebate for qualifying commercial properties.

South Korea

• VAT break: VAT break for businesses earning 60 million won or less a year.
• Financial support: The Special Financial Support for Small Merchant and SMEs will increase from 1.2 trillion won to 4.6 trillion won, and SME support from 0.03 trillion won to 0.63 trillion won.
• Rent relief: Landlords will receive a 50% income tax break.

Hong Kong

• Cash payout: $10,000 cash payout to Hong Kong permanent residents aged 18 or above.
• Tax relief: Reduced salaries tax and tax under personal assessment for 2019 to 2020 assessment year by 100%, subject to a ceiling of $20,000.
• Low-interest loans: Low-interest loan (up to $2 million) with a 100% government guarantee for enterprises, which will be open for application for 6 months.

Oceania

Australia

• Cash flow assistance: Up to $25,000 tax-free subsidy for small and medium-sized businesses with annual net sales of less than $50 million.
• Tax deduction: Instant asset write-off threshold increased from $30,000 to $150,000 for businesses with annual net sales of less than $500 million until 30 June 2020.
• Support for apprentices and trainees: Eligible employers can apply for a wage subsidy of 50% of apprentice or trainee wages for up to 9 months from 1 January 2020 to 30 September 2020 (up to a maximum of $21,000 per eligible apprentice or trainee).

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