The Covid-19 Support Payment (CSP)
Posted on 02 Mar 2022
The CSP is a payment to help support viable and ongoing businesses or organisations which have experienced a 40% or more drop in revenue as a result of 1 or more of the following COVID-19 circumstances:
- the widespread presence of COVID-19 in the New Zealand community
- the legislative public health measures taken in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the New Zealand community
- any business circumstances that are, or are reasonably likely to be, a consequence of the circumstances described above.
Three fortnightly CSPs will be available with applications opening for the first payment at 8am on 28 February 2022 for the period starting from 16 February 2022. Each CSP will be $4,000 per business plus $400 per full-time employee (FTE), capped at 50 FTEs or $24,000. The maximum size of the CSP your business or organisation may be eligible to apply for, depends on the number of FTEs you have, and your level of revenue. Businesses or organisations with low revenue will have their payment capped at 8 times their actual decline in revenue. Eligibility Criteria
- have been in business for at least 1 month before 16 February 2022
- be physically present in New Zealand
- be viable and ongoing
- have a New Zealand Business Number
- have had at least a 40% drop in revenue or capital raising as a result of one or more COVID-19 circumstances and if the applicant is part of a commonly owned group, this 40% drop also needs to be satisfied across the group as a whole)
- have taken all reasonably practical steps to minimise the decline in revenue
- if it is a regulated business or service, have been operating in compliance with the COVID-19 Vaccine Certificate (CVC) requirements for regulated business or services (whether following the CVC or non-CVC rules) for both the comparator period and the affected revenue period.
The full list of eligibility criteria can be found here on the IRD website Each CSP has an affected revenue period. For the first payment, the affected revenue period is from 16 February 2022. To work out a drop in revenue, you compare the revenue in an affected revenue period to the revenue earned in the comparison period (5 January 2022 to 15 February 2022). If you are a business with highly seasonal revenue, you may select a 7- day comparison period which is before 5 January 2022 and which may be from a past year, which reflects your typical revenue. Please refer to the IRD website for up to date criteria. The Minister of Finance has announced changes to the period that can be used to calculate a revenue drop. He said businesses would also have the option of comparing their revenue to the revenue earned in a comparison period of 5 January 2021 to 15 February 2021. The Minister of Finance also announced that the first payment will be open for at least 6 weeks. A 2nd COVID-19 Support Payment (CSP) will open on 14 March and a 3rd payment will open on 28 March. The period of time each CSP will cover are:
- For the?1st CSP, businesses will need to show their income is 40% lower in a 7-day period any time between?16 February 2022 and 4 April 2022, compared to a typical week between 5 January and 15 February in either 2021 or 2022.
- For the?2nd CSP, businesses will need to show their income is 40% lower in a 7-day period any time between?7 March 2022 and 4 April?2022, compared to a typical week between 5 January and 15 February in either 2021 or 2022.
- For the?3rd CSP, businesses will need to show their income is 40% lower in a 7-day period any time between?21 March 2022 and 4 April 2022, compared to a typical week between 5 January and 15 February in either 2021 or 2022.
- The option for businesses to compare their income drop to a typical week in 2021 will be available from 14 March.
Self-employed people who have received the Ministry of Culture and Heritage��s one-off emergency grant for self-employed people will be able to apply for the 2nd and 3rd CSPs. For more information, visit?https://www.ird.govt.nz/covid-19/business-and-organisations/covid-19-support-payment?or contact us to discuss.
