COVID-19 Outlook
  • Global
  • By US State
    • A-F
      • Coronavirus Alabama
      • Coronavirus Alaska
      • Coronavirus Arizona
      • Coronavirus Arkansas
      • Coronavirus California
      • Coronavirus Colorado
      • Coronavirus Connecticut
      • Coronavirus Delaware
      • Coronavirus Dist. of Columbia
      • Coronavirus Florida
    • G-L
      • Coronavirus Georgia
      • Coronavirus Guam
      • Coronavirus Hawaii
      • Coronavirus Idaho
      • Coronavirus Illinois
      • Coronavirus Indiana
      • Coronavirus Iowa
      • Coronavirus Kansas
      • Coronavirus Kentucky
      • Coronavirus Louisiana
    • M-R
      • Coronavirus Maryland
      • Coronavirus Maine
      • Coronavirus Massachusetts
      • Coronavirus Michigan
      • Coronavirus Minnesota
      • Coronavirus Mississippi
      • Coronavirus Missouri
      • Coronavirus Montana
      • Coronavirus Nebraska
      • Coronavirus Nevada
      • Coronavirus New Hampshire
      • Coronavirus New Jersey
      • Coronavirus New Mexico
      • Coronavirus New York
      • Coronavirus North Carolina
      • Coronavirus North Dakota
      • Coronavirus Ohio
      • Coronavirus Oklahoma
      • Coronavirus Oregon
      • Coronavirus Pennsylvania
      • Coronavirus Puerto Rico
      • Coronavirus Rhode Island
    • S-Z
      • Coronavirus South Carolina
      • Coronavirus South Dakota
      • Coronavirus Tennessee
      • Coronavirus Texas
      • Coronavirus Utah
      • Coronavirus Vermont
      • Coronavirus Virgin Islands and the Caribbean
      • Coronavirus Virginia
      • Coronavirus Washington
      • Coronavirus West Virginia
      • Coronavirus Wisconsin
      • Coronavirus Wyoming
  • Symptoms
    • Quarantine
  • Celebrities
  • News
    • Coronavirus Strange and Conspiracy
    • Supplies and Shortages
    • White House Updates
    • Travel and Tourism
  • Shopping Online
    • Poshmark
    • Ebay
    • Mercari Coming Soon
    • AliExpress Coming Soon
    • Amazon Coming Soon
  • Pets
COVID-19 Outlook
  • Global
  • By US State
    • A-F
      • Coronavirus Alabama
      • Coronavirus Alaska
      • Coronavirus Arizona
      • Coronavirus Arkansas
      • Coronavirus California
      • Coronavirus Colorado
      • Coronavirus Connecticut
      • Coronavirus Delaware
      • Coronavirus Dist. of Columbia
      • Coronavirus Florida
    • G-L
      • Coronavirus Georgia
      • Coronavirus Guam
      • Coronavirus Hawaii
      • Coronavirus Idaho
      • Coronavirus Illinois
      • Coronavirus Indiana
      • Coronavirus Iowa
      • Coronavirus Kansas
      • Coronavirus Kentucky
      • Coronavirus Louisiana
    • M-R
      • Coronavirus Maryland
      • Coronavirus Maine
      • Coronavirus Massachusetts
      • Coronavirus Michigan
      • Coronavirus Minnesota
      • Coronavirus Mississippi
      • Coronavirus Missouri
      • Coronavirus Montana
      • Coronavirus Nebraska
      • Coronavirus Nevada
      • Coronavirus New Hampshire
      • Coronavirus New Jersey
      • Coronavirus New Mexico
      • Coronavirus New York
      • Coronavirus North Carolina
      • Coronavirus North Dakota
      • Coronavirus Ohio
      • Coronavirus Oklahoma
      • Coronavirus Oregon
      • Coronavirus Pennsylvania
      • Coronavirus Puerto Rico
      • Coronavirus Rhode Island
    • S-Z
      • Coronavirus South Carolina
      • Coronavirus South Dakota
      • Coronavirus Tennessee
      • Coronavirus Texas
      • Coronavirus Utah
      • Coronavirus Vermont
      • Coronavirus Virgin Islands and the Caribbean
      • Coronavirus Virginia
      • Coronavirus Washington
      • Coronavirus West Virginia
      • Coronavirus Wisconsin
      • Coronavirus Wyoming
  • Symptoms
    • Quarantine
  • Celebrities
  • News
    • Coronavirus Strange and Conspiracy
    • Supplies and Shortages
    • White House Updates
    • Travel and Tourism
  • Shopping Online
    • Poshmark
    • Ebay
    • Mercari Coming Soon
    • AliExpress Coming Soon
    • Amazon Coming Soon
  • Pets
  • Coronavirus Virgin Islands and the Caribbean

COVID-19 BAILOUT

  • December 31, 1969
  • Publisher
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0

Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke yesterday outlined the Government’s financial bailout package for thousands of Jamaican workers and small operators in tourism and related sectors who have taken a hit by a downturn in activities because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 The measures, amounting to billions in Government spend, are part of the Administration’s fiscal stimulus package, the minister said.

Clarke, in closing the 2020/21 Budget Debate at Gordon House in downtown Kingston, said under the Administration’s COVID-19 Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) programme thousands of waiters, waitresses, bartenders, gardeners, room attendants, drivers, caregivers, security guards, office attendants, and clerks, among other categories of workers who are the backbone of the hotel, attraction, tour, and restaurant industries, will receive assistance.

“It is a time when those who play by the rules, who are registered, will be rewarded,” said Clarke, who had first revealed the Government’s intention in an address to the nation last Thursday.

Government will be providing temporary grants for laid-off or terminated employees whose taxable income is $1.5 million or less, under an initiative dubbed Supporting Employees with Transfer of Cash (SET Cash).

The finance minister said the temporary cash transfers will be made to individuals where it can be verified that they lost their employment since March 10 (the date of the first COVID case in Jamaica).

“This programme will be available to employees from any sector who lost their employment after March 10 and before June 30. Employees will be required to apply by filling out an application online. It will be necessary to verify that the applicant was indeed employed prior to March 10. This verification will be achieved by verifying that at some point in the last three months, statutory deductions were filed on behalf of the employee. It will also be important to verify that the applicant was actually laid off,” Clarke explained.

He said positive verification will be achieved by having the employer fill out and upload a P45 form on which the identity of all laid off or terminated employees is provided.

“Once there is a match between the applicant data and the data on a P45 form, that second stage of the verification would have been completed. Once the applicant is verified, the file will be passed to the accountant general and payment made electronically directly to the bank account of the applicant,” the minister said.

Applicants who are successful will receive payment at the rate of $9,000 per fortnight, paid monthly from the month of application until June, provided that the application is made before the cut-off point for that month.

Under the Government’s Business Employee Support and Transfer of Cash (BEST Cash) programme, Clarke explained that for tourism businesses to qualify they will need to by fill out the required form online, then file and pay their payroll returns as usual “on the 15th of April, May and June”.

“For each employee with taxable income that is less than $1.5 million on whose behalf statutory returns are applied, the Government will transfer funds at a rate of $9,000 per fortnight to that tourism-related business, by direct transfer to their bank account, paid monthly. For the months of April, May and June that will equate to $54,000 for each employee they retain whose taxable income is less than $1.5 million”.

Noting that Jamaica has never had such a direct transfer programme, the finance minister said a multi-disciplinary team from the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General’s Department, Tax Administration Jamaica, and eGOV Jamaica Limited is designing the online interface processes and protocols.

“We are working so that businesses can begin to apply by April 9, assuming that the supplementary [budget] is passed by then,” Clarke told the House.
In the meantime, an amount of $1.1 billion in grants will be provided under the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) to support the poor and vulnerable with a payment that effectively increases what they would otherwise receive in the period April – June, the finance minister said.

“PATH beneficiaries will ordinarily receive a payment in April and a similar payment in June. [But] in response to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government will make an additional payment of a similar amount in May, which will have the effect of increasing, by 50 per cent, the aggregate amount that PATH beneficiaries would have ordinarily received during this period of April – June. So, the amount received per payment remains the same, but the frequency will increase over this period. Instead of two payments, there will be three, which means the aggregate amount increases by 50 per cent,” the finance minister explained.

Additionally, all small businesses with sales of $50 million or less, and which filed taxes in the 2019/20 financial year, and filed payroll returns indicating they have employees, will be eligible for a one-time COVID small business grant of $100,000, Clarke announced.

“They will be required to fill out a form online, providing their banking information. The process will involve verification of a submitted tax return for 2019/20 as well as the submission of the relevant payroll returns relating to employees the small business may have. This measure is expected to cost $800 million,” he told the House.

Meanwhile, small operators in tourism and related sectors are to benefit from $1.2 billion in grants.

Clarke said the finance ministry, in consultation with the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, will establish the maximum grant that any one business can receive, among other criteria.

“These grants will be accessible by application to a special multi-stakeholder COVID Tourism Grant Committee and by submitting detailed information, including audited financials and management accounts, projected cash flow statement along with assumptions, recovery plan with other steps being taken, statement of personal assets and liabilities, and evidence of tax compliance among other criteria agreed in consultation with stakeholders,” Clarke outlined.

He said grants will, however, not be available to all operators and priority will be given to tourism-related businesses below a threshold size to be determined, which can demonstrate the existence of a viable recovery plan that incorporates resources from other sources.

Clarke also said the Government will be reallocating expenditure to finance a further $200 million in COVID Compassionate Grants from the Constituency Development Fund to be distributed through constituency offices, and $150 million in support to the Ministry of Local Government to attend to the needs of the elderly, the infirmed and the homeless who are not on PATH, as well as $200 million to support small farmers.

In addition, the Administration will be deferring the principal and interest payments on student loans for the three month period April – June to cushion the impact on young graduates while giving new graduates 14 months to start repaying their student loans after graduation.

 

Now you can read the Jamaica Observer ePaper anytime, anywhere. The Jamaica Observer ePaper is available to you at home or at work, and is the same edition as the printed copy available at http://bit.ly/epaperlive




Source link

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Related Topics
  • bailout
  • COVID19
  • Virgin Islands COVID-19
Next Article
  • Coronavirus Virgin Islands and the Caribbean

Elephant Man charged for immigration violation | News

  • March 23, 2020
  • Publisher
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post

Full Text | Why the DPP ruled out criminal charges in Jodian Fearon’s death | News

  • October 7, 2020
View Post

Four ministers sworn in | News

  • September 7, 2020
View Post

Western hospitals willing to accept spillover COVID-19 cases | News

  • August 27, 2020
View Post

Montego Bay Fire Station 70 per cent complete | News

  • August 8, 2020
View Post

Sixteen new COVID cases, 14 more recoveries | News

  • July 19, 2020
View Post

Jamaicans happy to be home, after being stranded abroad | News

  • May 30, 2020
View Post

Criminal Records Office to resume operation on Monday | News

  • May 30, 2020
View Post

Canada to provide small business, property owners with relief loans | News

  • May 29, 2020

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Posts
  • Serena Williams On Her Daughter Getting Into Tennis
    • January 25, 2021
  • N.J. Teacher’s Union Steps In and Delays School Reopening
    • January 25, 2021
  • Erika Jayne Spotted at KFC With No Glam, How RHOBH Star Feels About ‘New Life’ in $1.5 Mil Rental
    • January 25, 2021
Sponsored
  • Digital Agency
  • Xpurity
  • Tech Music and Gaming News
  • Industrial News and Resources
  • Headline & Celebrity News
  • Celebrity News & Gossip
  • Adult social media
  • Chicago escorts
  • Breaking News
  • Real Clear Politics
  • Travel News
  • Trending Celebrities
  • Adult SEO
  • Fashion and Celebrity Style
  • Music and Entertainement News
  • California Escorts
  • Chicago escorts
  • Best Chicago Escorts
Categories
Featured Posts
  • Serena Williams On Her Daughter Getting Into Tennis

    • January 25, 2021
    View Post
  • N.J. Teacher’s Union Steps In and Delays School Reopening

    • January 25, 2021
    View Post
  • Erika Jayne Spotted at KFC With No Glam, How RHOBH Star Feels About ‘New Life’ in $1.5 Mil Rental

    • January 25, 2021
    View Post
  • Louisville opens COVID-19 debt fund for people behind on utility bills

    • January 25, 2021
    View Post
  • Biden plans to boost US manufacturers; govt to buy more American goods

    • January 25, 2021
    View Post

Subscribe

Subscribe now to our newsletter

Covid-19 Outlook
  • Contact
  • Advertising
Your trusted Coronavirus Covid-19 source.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.