Victorian Circuit Breaker Action Business Support Packages

Yesterday the Victorian Government announced new support measures for small businesses, including sole traders, impacted by the coronavirus circuit-breaker action (enacted between 13-17 February 2021), with hospitality, tourism, events and creative industries operators to benefit from grants.

There are four initiatives available for eligible businesses as part of this new support package.

1. Business Costs Assistance Program

The new Business Costs Assistance Program will offer grants of $2,000 for eligible employing and non-employing businesses in the hospitality, food wholesaling, tourism, events and selected retail industries.

This program will help eligible businesses with costs incurred as a result of the circuit breaker action. For example, businesses may have incurred costs through loss of perishable food or produce and cancelled bookings.

Eligible businesses with an annual payroll of up to $3 million can receive a one-off grant of $2,000, whether they have employees or not.

Applications for the Business Costs Assistance Program should be open on Monday 22 February 2021, and when available the enrolment process should be found by clicking here

2. Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund

Eligible businesses who received a grant through the Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund will receive a further one-off payment of $3,000 to help with costs incurred as a result of the circuit breaker action. Businesses that receive this payment will not be eligible to receive a grant from the Business Costs Assistance Program (above).

You do not need to apply for this payment, as all eligible grant participants will be contacted by Business Victoria with further information. Details of the original Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund can be found by clicking here.

3. Victorian Accommodation Support Program

The new Victorian Accommodation Support Program is an expansion of the Regional Tourism Accommodation Support Program (original details - click here ) and includes tourist accommodation premises in Greater Melbourne. This will support accommodation providers whose bookings were cancelled due to the circuit breaker action to limit the spread of COVID-19.

This program supports tourism accommodation providers with a grant of one of two tiers of support for those with demonstrated booking cancellations between Friday 12 February and Wednesday 17 February 2021, as follows:

Tier 1 : Funding of $2,250 (ex GST) per Accommodation Premises experiencing 10 or fewer cancelled nights.
Tier 2 : Funding of $4,500 (ex GST) per Accommodation Premises with 11 or more cancelled nights.

The Victorian Accommodation Support Program will open soon, and in the interim you can register your interest in this program now by clicking here.

4. Melbourne Travel Voucher Scheme

Building on the on the previously released Regional Travel Voucher Scheme, it was announced that the scheme will be expanded to include a new Melbourne Travel Voucher Scheme to support travel in regional Victoria.

Combined the two schemes include:

A new Melbourne Travel Voucher Scheme with 40,000 vouchers to support travel in greater Melbourne. This scheme will be launched soon, and no further details are currently available.
An expanded Regional Travel Voucher Scheme (for details – click here ) with an additional 10,000 vouchers to support travel in regional Victoria, and this third round will be open on 30 March 2021 with eligible travel between 6 April 2021 to 31 May 2021.

The total number of vouchers offered under the both schemes will be 200,000 vouchers.

Please do not hesitate to contact your Lowe Lippmann Relationship Partner if you wish to discuss any of these matters further.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

Audit Lowe Down – Large proprietary limited – are you one? Tips and traps for your assessment

July 1, 2025

Large proprietary limited – are you one? Tips and traps for your assessment. In Australia, being classified as a large proprietary limited company means that you have to prepare, and lodge audited financial statements with ASIC under the Corporations Act 2001 (the Act), however many companies are not necessarily applying the thresholds appropriately. A proprietary company is large if it meets at least 2 of the following thresholds: Consolidated revenue ≥ $50 million Consolidated gross assets ≥ $25 million 100 or more employees. These thresholds seem simple, however some points to note: The calculations must be performed applying ALL accounting standards so even if you are preparing special purpose financial statements, then you will need to assess these thresholds as if you were applying all standards, including: AASB 16 Leases – this standard would add a right of use asset to your balance sheet potentially significantly increasing your gross assets. AASB 10 Consolidated Financial Statements – if you have controlled entities then the inclusion of their income statement and balance sheet may significantly increase each of the thresholds. AASB 128 Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures / AASB 11 Joint Arrangements – if you have entities over which you have significant influence or joint control then applying equity accounting or including your share of assets and revenue would affect the thresholds. In determining the number of employees, the Act is clear that it is all full-time and part-time employees (on a pro-rata basis), however casual employees need to be considered. For example, are they genuinely casual with varying hours / shifts each week or are they in substance a permanent member of your team but just employed on a casual basis. The thresholds need to be met at the end of the financial year and therefore entities should track their performance during the year so they are aware if they will meet the definition of a large proprietary company at year end.

Audit Lowe Down – Incorrect presentation of your liabilities could significantly affect your balance sheet

June 17, 2025

In a previous blog, we discussed the changes to the accounting standards relating to classification of current / non-current liabilities on the balance sheet. We have been receiving a number of questions on this topic and have provided some practical scenarios below as well as some actions for you as we approach 30 June reporting dates.

Tax Alert - High Court special leave application granted to appeal Bendel Case decision

June 13, 2025

High Court special leave application granted to appeal Bendel Case decision The Australian Taxation Office has been granted special leave to appeal to the High Court from the Full Federal Court decision in FCT v Bendel [2025] FCAFC 15. During March 2025 we released a Tax Alert ( see here ) explaining the current view of the ATO following the Full Federal Court decision that an unpaid present entitlement (or UPE) owed by a discretionary trust to a corporate beneficiary is not a “loan” for Division 7A purposes. The ATO also issued an Interim Decision Impact Statement ( see here ) in response to the Full Federal Court decision, providing information for taxpayers and advisers in relation to the details of the case and issues decided by the court.