Last week the Government announced two Subsidies to assist companies during these uncertain times.  They come into force from March 17th, 2020.

Full details can be found in the attached factsheet – wage-subsidy-and-leave-payment-employer-support-factsheet, additionally more current information can be found at – https://www.employment.govt.nz/about/news-and-updates/workplace-response-coronavirus-covid-19/

The important thing to note regarding these payments is they are Taxable in the hands of the Employee, all normal deductions (PAYE, student loans, KiwiSaver, etc) apply therefore the payments must be processed through Payroll.  The payments are considered part of what the employer normally pays the employee, but the Government is providing this subsidy so the employer does not have to pay the full amount (providing some relief to the employer and security to the employee).

We have created two new Transactions to handle these payments:

COVL – Covid19 Home Leave  – for the leave payments for staff who are required to Self Isolate (or support someone who is self-isolating)

COVW – Covidi9 Wage Subsidy – for all Wage Subsidy payments.  You will also see a COVR – Covid19 Wage Reversal which will be a negative figure to reduce the value of Permanent Salary & Wage Payments.

Both payments are a fixed amount (not pro-rated) of $585.80 for staff who work greater than 20 hours per week, and $350.00 for those that work less.  Each employer must apply to the Ministry of Social Development for the subsidy and the total amount received must be paid out to employees in full.  We will be adding new transactions to the Ezytime Portal to manage these payments but please ensure you only enter One Transaction per week for each Subsidy payment.

We will be implementing everything during the week so please work with us as we get setup to manage this process for you.