The Commonwealth and NSW Governments have announced grants of up to $50,000 will soon be available for eligible small businesses in defined disaster areas impacted by recent floods. The grant will be available to those items which are not covered by insurance. Businesses will need to ensure that whatever items are claimed in the grant are not also claimed or claimable on insurance.
Whilst the application is still not live on the website; we understand that businesses will need to have the following items ready when making their claim online:
- A MyServiceNSW Account;
- Proof of identity;
- Business ABN number;
- Business bank account details;
- If the business is a sole trader, a letter from the business accountant confirming that the sole transfer derives a majority of his/her income from his/her business;
- Photos of the damage to the business caused by the storm or flood event; and
- A list of the damages and associated costs.
When preparing the list of damages, it would be very useful to have evidence of the price of the stock that the business has lost also set out on the list (for example attach your previous supplier invoices or accounts). Similarly, if a business has already had to buy replacement items for example, trading stock, gift bags, coffee machine, clean-up costs and/or furniture he/she can supply copies of tax invoices evidencing these payments or a copy of the business bank statement which is highlighted with those items which relate to the damages.
This following extract is taken from the ServiceNSW website also and relates to the previous small business disaster relief (which we understand will also apply to the new grant):
“To ensure your application is processed without delay:
- When you enter details on how you propose to use the grant, make sure you include:
- a list outlining each item that you intend to purchase using the funding
- the known or estimated cost of each item
- documentation to support each item, such as an official quotation, invoice or receipt dated from the date of the flooding in your local government area.
- As an example, your itemised list could look like this:
- Clean-up services for café – $5,000 – the quote for the clean-up service (from the cleaning company) is attached.
- New refrigerator – $3,500 – the invoice for the fridge (from online wholesale supplier) is attached.
- Coffee machine – $5,000 – the quote for the machine (from a wholesale supplier) is attached.
- Shelving for café storeroom – $5,100 – the quote (from a certified carpenter) is attached.
- If you are applying for an amount between $25,000 and $50,000, evidence of payment means:
- an invoice including the name, address and ABN (if applicable) of the entity that issued the invoice and a description of each item included, clearly identifiable as being related to the approved expenditure and to damage from the eligible disaster
- a receipt including the name and address and ABN (if applicable) of the entity that issued the receipt and a description of each item to which the receipt relates
- a copy of your bank transfer and/or bank statement.”
We strongly suggest that businesses start preparing those items set out at points 1 to 7 above to ensure that they are ready to apply once the application goes live.
If you require any assistance in preparing your application or have any questions, please contact Cheney Suthers Lawyers.
