COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme (WSS)

As at 2 September 2021

The Wage Subsidy August 2021 is a payment to support employers throughout New Zealand, so they can continue to pay employees and protect jobs for businesses affected by the move to Alert Level 4 on 17 August 2021.

You can apply for a contribution towards the wages of your employees (or yourself, if you are self-employed) for a two week period. You can't apply for the same employee twice for the same period.

If you've already applied Work & Income will email you once your application has been processed to let you know the outcome. If they need to get in touch before then, they will call or email you. Unfortunately they are not providing updates on your application status over the phone.

Eligibility

Your business must meet the revenue decline test:

• your business is being or will be affected by the move to Alert Level 4 on 17 August 2021, and

• your business has had, or you predict will have, a decline in revenue that can be attributed to the effect the move to Alert Level 4 on 17 August 2021 has had on your business, and that is:

  • at least a 40% decline over the period between 17 August 2021 and 30 August 2021 inclusive (this is the revenue test period), compared to a typical 14-day consecutive period of revenue in the six weeks immediately before the move to Alert Level 4 on 17 August 2021 (this is the default comparator period), or

  • if your business has highly seasonal revenue, you must have at least 40% decline over the revenue test period compared to the same 14 consecutive days in 2020 or 2019 (this is the seasonal comparator period), provided you can demonstrate that the seasonal nature of your business makes it harder to meet the 40% revenue decline using the default comparator period than if your business was not of a seasonal nature, and

  • the calculations and comparisons above cannot include any payments made to you from:

    • this subsidy

    • other COVID-19 wage subsidy schemes

    • the Short-term Absence Payment

    • the Leave Support Scheme

    • the COVID-19 Essential Workers Leave Support scheme

    • the COVID-19 Resurgence Support Payment

    • the COVID-19 Small Business Cashflow scheme.

You can include a fall in projected capital income as revenue for the purpose of an application if:

• your business is a research and development intensive “start-up” business, and

• you have no revenue other than seed or venture capital or Government funding, and

• you’re recognised by Callaghan Innovation as a legitimate research and development start-up business.

All applications received will be processed

This includes any that may have been delayed as we try to match the information in applications with the information held by Inland Revenue.

Second round of wage subsidy to open Friday 3 September

The Government has approved another wage subsidy. Applications for Wage Subsidy August 2021 #2 will open at 9.00am on Friday 3 September. This is for all businesses and self-employed people who have or predict at least a 40% decline in their revenue from 31 August to 13 September and meet all the eligibility criteria.

Businesses that applied for the initial Wage Subsidy August 2021 payment and who meet all the eligibility criteria for Wage Subsidy #2, can apply for another wage subsidy payment two weeks after their previous application. So, if someone applied on 23 August, they could apply for Wage Subsidy #2 on 6 September. Early applications can't be accepted as each payment is for two weeks.

Work and Income will email these businesses to let them know when they can apply for the new Wage Subsidy #2.

Businesses that didn't apply for the initial wage subsidy are welcome to apply for Wage Subsidy #2 from 3 September providing they meet all the eligibility criteria.

To ensure payments are processed as quickly as possible, it's very important the information provided in the application matches that held by Inland Revenue. If the information doesn't match, it may delay the processing of an application.