Applies to all small and medium sized businesses affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

ASSISTANCE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE:

• Business Support Grant Scheme
  A £10,000 grant available to all small businesses who are eligible for the Small business Rate Relief Scheme. A £25,000 grant to companies in the hospitality, tourism and retail sectors with a rateable value from £15,000 up to £51,000.
• Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
  Eligible to all employers – small or large, charitable or non-profit, to assist with job retention. The support is to aid employers to continue paying part of their employee’s salary for those employees that would otherwise have been laid off. A further guidance document will be issued to cover the details on how to access this support.
• Extension of SSP
  The government is bringing forward legislation to allow SME’s to reclaim SSP paid for sickness due to COVID-19. At present the exact mechanism for repayment of this hasn’t been set up, so relief is not going to be immediate. A further guidance document will be issued to cover the details on this and to provide an update on how the repayments will be made once available.
• Deferred Vat Payments
  (for vat registered persons, available from 20th March, so applies for vat quarters ending February 2020, March 2020 & April 2020. This will not apply to existing vat liabilities unpaid from earlier vat quarters, but relief may be available under the HMRC Time to Pay arrangements. Payment has been deferred until January 2021 for these liabilities. Any vat reclaims or refunds currently pending will be made as normal.

Relief is given automatically; you do not need to do anything.

• Deferred Tax Payments
  Payments due on account on 31st July 2020 will be deferred until 31st January 2021. Please note this does not currently apply to Limited Companies and their Corporation Tax Liability.Relief is given automatically for individuals; you do not need to do anything.
• Business Interruption Loan Scheme
  Please bear in mind that this is a loan and not a grant and is subject to repayment. The scheme is delivered by the British Business Bank and enables businesses to apply for a loan of up to £5 million, with the government guaranteeing any losses up to 80% with no fees, the first twelve months will be interest free. Businesses will be eligible if your turnover is less than £45 million per year and meets the British Business Bank eligibility criteria.

The scheme is administered and provided through local accredited lenders, there are 22 in Northern Ireland, and they can           be found on the British Business Bank website but include all major banks.

• Business Rates Relief

This includes a delay in rates bills for the current year and a three- month rates holiday for businesses. The Small                  Business Rate Relief scheme will continue in 2020-21.

FURTHER GUIDANCE & ASSISTANCE:

Additional measures that businesses can take:

• Try and establish the potential impact on your business cashflow for the next number of months or arrange to speak with us or your own advisor on how this will impact you.
• Speak with your bank about a possible overdraft facility or other repayment holidays
• If you have HP agreements or other monthly commitments try and obtain a payment holiday period.
• Speak with anyone who owes you money and try and collect, this is more likely to work if your customers are other businesses who may be able to avail of additional funding measures introduced

• Call HMRC and arrange a time to pay amount for any existing debts owed to HMRC, but please remember it is important that you don’t commit to anything that you may not be able to meet.
• Speak with your creditors or people you owe money to and see if you can arrange deferred payment arrangements.

Please note that the measures being provided and how to access these are being updated regularly, so please continue to check in on any updates either online or via our website at www.amcni.co.uk.