Second Resurgence Support Payment Available Soon

As the long tail of the Delta outbreak drags on and the country remains in elevated Alert Levels, many businesses are doing it tough. Auckland businesses will remain closed for at least another week and other businesses around the country are seeing significant revenue shortfalls due to Auckland’s continuing lockdown and the stricter “Delta” Level 2 restrictions. As such, the Government is offering a second Resurgence Support Payment to help New Zealand businesses weather the storm.

The Resurgence Support Payment (RSP) is a payment to help support viable and ongoing businesses or organisations due to a COVID-19 alert level increase to Level 2 or higher. The first RSP was made available after the alert level increase of 17 August, and now a second RSP has been announced. Applications for the second RSP will be open from 8am on Friday 17 September. Businesses and organisations will be eligible for the second RSP even if they have already received the first RSP. Applications for both payments will remain open for one month after a nationwide return to Alert Level 1.

Businesses and organisations will be eligible for the second RSP if they experience a 30% drop in revenue over a seven-day period starting on or after 8 September (as well as meeting other eligibility criteria). This drop is compared to a typical seven-day period in the six weeks before the initial increase in alert levels on 17 August. Seasonal businesses should show a 30% drop compared with a similar week the previous year.

The decline in revenue must be due to the elevated alert levels, not just Covid-19 in general. You must have been in business for at least one month prior to the initial alert level change on 17 August to be eligible.

The payment is a loan and does not have to be repaid. However, the payment must be used to help cover business expenses such as wages and fixed costs.

There have been some recent changes to the eligibility criteria for commonly owned groups. A commonly owned group generally consists of businesses that have the same owners. Some individual businesses or organisations within a commonly owned group may now be eligible for RSP. You can find examples of commonly owned groups and more eligibility criteria for the RSP on the Inland Revenue website.

The RSP is calculated as $1,500 plus $400 per full-time-employee (up to 50 full-time-employees). The maximum payment is therefore $21,500. Sole traders can receive up to $1,900. However, businesses will have their payment capped at four times (4x) the amount their revenue has dropped over the seven-day period.

For more information on eligibility criteria visit Eligibility Criteria for the Resurgence Support Payment IRD.

To apply for the second RSP (on or after Friday 17 September) visit Apply for the Resurgence Support Payment IRD.