The program aims to provide eligible small businesses with access to specialist financial services and/or business support to assist in business recovery, transition, growth, or application of other strategies to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eligibility criteria:

Applicants must satisfy all of the following:

• Be an operating majority-owned Tasmanian business with a minimum annual turnover of $25,000, excluding GST (or can show this level of turnover is likely within 2 years).
• Be a small business located in Tasmanian with no more than 19 FTEs.
• Be registered for tax purposes in Australia with a continuously active ABN on or before 1 July 2021.
• Be registered (if required) and actively using the Check in TAS App, or register at the time of submitting an application.

The applicant’s nominated service provider to be engaged to provide services must:

• Be a business that is registered for tax purposes in Australia with an active ABN.
• Be easily recognised as a business that regularly provides financial and/or business expertise and services, aligned to those to be funded under this program, to a range of businesses.

Applicants are ineligible if one or more of the following applies:

• Not-for-profit organisations, incorporated associations, or charities UNLESS the organisation is operating as a business and employing paid staff and / or selling goods and services that make up more than 30 per cent of their income.
• Any public company under the meaning as defined in the Corporations Act 2001.
• Any business that is trading insolvent, under external administration or bankruptcy.
• Investment entities (such as unit trusts and superannuation funds) including residential and commercial property investments/rentals.
• Any government body, government agency and government business enterprises.

Eligible expenditure

An eligible activity is one where an external professional financial or business service provider assists the applicant business to recover, transition, grow or apply other strategies to address the financial impacts to the business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The application, including the activity and the service provider, needs to be approved before the activity occurs and the funding provided.

Examples of what funding can be used for includes (but is not limited to):

• Advice, support, counselling, and the development of strategies to address financial/operational difficulties being experienced by the applicant.

• The development of risk management strategies.
• Strategic analysis.
• Advice and analysis regarding the management of cash flow, preparation of cash flow budgets and projections.
• Profitability analysis.
• The formulation of financial/operational strategies to assist businesses address the impact of COVID-19.
• The development of business plans and governance frameworks.
• Advice regarding the management of debts and liabilities.
• Advice on pivoting, diversification, product innovation, marketing or online presence.

Ineligible expenditure

Examples of what funding cannot be used for includes (but is not limited to):

• Servicing creditors or personal debts and expenses.
• Eligible services or activities that have concluded or commenced prior to applying for funding from this grant program.
• Annual or quarterly (regular) business tax or accounting services (such as BAS, PAYG, all Tax and Annual returns, and data input entry) and IT services such as day to day operations including installing software or fixing computer hardware.
• The purchase hire or lease of physical goods, equipment and licenses.
• Activities that could ordinarily be described as expenses incurred in the normal course of business such as operating expenses, stock purchases, utility payments, salaries/wages.
• Payment of fines/regulatory charges.
• Assistance in obtaining other government assistance packages including grants and loans.
• Rental property reviews and advice (for residential, commercial, and shared accommodation services).
• Any fees associated with entering into administration/bankruptcy.

Applications opened on 27 September 2021 and will be assessed against all eligibility criteria and acceptable expenditure as identified above.

Applications will be assessed in order of receipt and will continue until all the funding for the year is exhausted.

Please contact your Ruddicks adviser where we can help you with any financial or business guidance needs.

If you wish to apply for this support grant, we would be happy to assist with compiling the necessary supporting information or making the application on your behalf. Where we submit an application on your behalf, we’ll need your signed written permission to do so and submit with the application.

Click on the below links to learn more or apply for the small business grant.

Program Guidelines

To Make an Application

Frequently Asked Questions

DISCLAIMER:

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

The content of this newsletter is general in nature. It does not constitute specific advice and readers are encouraged to consult their Ruddicks adviser on any matters of interest. Ruddicks accepts no liability for errors or omissions, or for any loss or damage suffered as a result of any person acting without such advice. This information is current as at 15 October 2021, and was published around that time. Ruddicks particularly accepts no obligation or responsibility for updating this publication for events, including changes to the law, the Australian Taxation Office’s interpretation of the law, or Government announcements arising after that time.

Any advice provided is not ‘financial product advice’ as defined by the Corporations Act. Ruddicks is not licensed to provide financial product advice and taxation is only one of the matters that you need to consider when making a decision on a financial product. You should consider seeking advice from an Australian Financial Services licensee before making any decisions in relation to a financial product. © Ruddicks 2021