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Articles by Matthew Gilligan

Covid-19 - Offices closed but business as usual

AUTHOR: Matthew Gilligan

POSTED: 23 March 2020

After the Covid-19 announcement today, all our staff will be working from home. We are well set up to do this, and our business will operate as per usual, with the following changes:

All meetings will be by phone or Skype
All events will be held online
We will not be able to receive postal or courier mail for the time being, so please send everything via email.

Support for our clients

We know this is a time of uncertainty for business owners, sole traders, the self-employed, and employees. To that end, on Saturday the Government announced measures to help businesses get through these tough times. And today (23 March) further support was announced.

As part of the economic package to help businesses survive the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government has outlined various ways they will offer support.

Wage subsidy

Businesses can apply for a wage subsidy of $585.80 per week for employees working over 20 hours per week, and $350.00 for those working less than 20.
The original package had a maximum cap for this subsidy of $150,000, but today that cap was removed.
All New Zealand employers are eligible for the wage subsidy, including new business or rapidly growing businesses. The government made another $4 billion available.
Find out more here: https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/covid-19-support.html

Rent freeze

Rent freezes are in place, and 'no cause' terminations have been extended to commercial tenants, to assist business owners who are struggling with rent payments.

Business finance guarantee

Banks agreed in principle to a 'business finance guarantee' scheme, under which the Government will underwrite business loans. That means you can write to your banker and ask for an overdraft underpinned by a government guarantee. We suggest everyone that needs it should do this immediately.

Quantitative Easing

With the government agreeing to buy $30 billion of bonds, we have NZ’s first ever quantitative easing. This is designed to keep interest rates low and stimulate the economy. This, coupled with the strong government initiatives looks like a very positive response from the government and should allay the fears of many. (For more on this, have a look at my blog about banking and debt.)

Summary

We know these are challenging times, and we will do our best at GRA to support you. If you have any concerns at all, please get in touch in any of the following ways:

Phone us on +64 9 522 7955
Email us on [email protected]
Fill in our online form
If you are a GRA accounting client, contact your Client Services Manager directly

Stay safe.

Request a Meeting

Matthew Gilligan
Director

09 522-7955

[email protected]

© Gilligan Rowe & Associates LP

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Disclaimer: This article is intended to provide only a summary of the issues associated with the topics covered. It does not purport to be comprehensive nor to provide specific advice. No person should act in reliance on any statement contained within this article without first obtaining specific professional advice. If you require any further information or advice on any matter covered within this article, please contact the author.

Comments

Testimonials

Hi Salesh, I just wanted to send you an email on behalf of GRA to say how fantastic we have found your company to date. As you know, Ben and I joined GRA a couple of months ago and have just found you so amazingly helpful in getting our new property set up correctly and sorted out. We have what I would consider a rather complicated structure as a result and it’s a fantastic feeling to know that we are getting everything done in the best way possible. We have just had approval to put a minor dwelling on the property which will make a massive difference in terms of cash flow and obviously value, something we would never have even thought of without GRA and which we are very excited about. During the buying process we attended a seminar with Matthew and from the outset thought he was fab. We therein signed up for property school and found this nothing short of fantastic. The content was relevant, up to date and comprehensive, but more importantly it was taught in a way that we could actually understand and really get value out of. I wanted to mention also, that everybody GRA have recommended to us has been just so efficient and absolute masters at what they do. A wonderful network of people that we feel very lucky to now be able to call on. From Kris Pederson and Bryan Rist who put our mortgage together to the insurance guys they then referred us to, I’m super impressed. Within GRA, Ellery has probably turned things around for us faster than I’ve ever known before, something which we appreciated so very much when it came to crunch time. She’s always a pleasure to deal with and again, we’re stoked. We’ve just settled on the property today and are about to go and get the keys. I’m pretty pumped and hence this email is probably rather excitable. So, a massive thank you to you Salesh, the partners for such a fabulous 6 weeks at property school and everyone at GRA for their help. May this be the start of our property empire. Thanks again, - A & B - July 2015

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