How the Resilience Budget Will Help Your Company Fight COVID-19 Fallout

The Resilience Budget will address the three Cs on the mind of every business owner now: cash flow, cost, and credit.

Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Heng Swee Keat

No fear, help is here! Here’s how the Resilience Budget is going to help companies in Singapore fight the COVID-19 fallout and tide over the difficult times ahead.

1) It will ease Cash Flow pressure for your company

Altogether, by Oct 2020, $16.2 billion from the Resilience Budget will flow into the hands of businesses through the Job Support Scheme and Wage Credit Scheme. Let’s break it down:

Jobs Support Scheme (JSS)

• The Singapore government will pay 25% of monthly wages for every local worker in employment, capped at $4,600, for 9 months till end-2020
• Higher support for sectors more affected by COVID-19*, of up to 75%

*Sectors that rely on tourism and international travel, as well as those that involve a high level of human interaction and have been hit by safe distancing measures.

It’s not just the Singapore government extending a helping hand to businesses during this period of time. Companies like Lyte Ventures are pitching in as well. In fact, Lyte Ventures is offering a one-time 5% fee to advance up to 80% of the JSS.

The JSS is paid quarterly by the government, so this particular advance empowers companies to preserve their workforce in the immediate. When the company eventually does collect the first pay-out JSS from the government in May, the company then simply pay Lyte Ventures back. Lyte Ventures is also able to advance on the 2nd pay-out in July and the 3rd in October.

If you’re a Talenox user, you’re in luck! For preferential rates, simply quote

to the Lyte Ventures team. For more information, you can contact the team at support@lytefinance.com. Alternatively, you can Whatsapp them at +65 8167 4137. 

Wage Credit Scheme (WCS)

• A $5.6 billion payout of wage credit by end-May, from Budget 2020, remains.
• Additional $500 million payout to be brought forward from Sep to end-June.

While your company awaits support from JSS and WCS, there are current measures put in place to help with cash flow in the meantime. These are the schemes:

Deferment of Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Payments

• This will be automatically carried out for businesses. 
• Companies on GIRO and have ongoing CIT payments can view their revised instalment plans at myTax Portal in early May 2020. 
• Alternatively, those who are not on GIRO and are required to make a one-time CIT payment can use the Corporate Tax Payment Deferment Calculator to view the extended payment due date.

Sector-specific Cash Flow support

2) It will help your company mitigate Costs

Enhanced Property Tax Rebate for 2020

• Qualifying commercial properties (e.g. hotels, serviced apartments, tourist attractions, shops and restaurants) will pay no Property Tax. This is a step up from the initial 30% Property Tax Rebate. 
• Integrated Resorts’ Property Tax Rebate will increase from 10% to 60%.
• All other non-residential properties will receive a new 30% Property Tax Rebate.

Enhanced Rental Waivers to Support Tenants

• Increased rental waiver from 1 month to 3 months, for stallholders in hawker centres managed by NEA or NEA-appointed operators
• Increased rental waiver from 0.5 months to 2 months, for eligible tenants of Government agencies
• All other non-residential tenants of Government agencies receive 0.5 months of rental waive

3) It will ease your company’s access to Credit

Enterprise Financing Schemes (EFS) will be further enhanced so that even the hardest-hit businesses will continue to have access to credit.

• The Singapore government will work with Participating Financial Institutions to defer capital payments for one year on the EFS-Working Capital Loan and the TBLP loans if requested by businesses. This is then subjected to assessment by the Participating Financial Institutions.
• 20 billion of loan capital will be set aside to support good companies with strong capabilities, and catalyse private sector loan capital.
• Businesses facing cash flow challenges will also receive help from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). After all, the MAS is working with banks and insurers on businesses’ loan obligations and insurance premium payments.

4) In the meantime, let’s Go Digital

As Singapore prepares for recovery, businesses should continue to make use of this downtime to digitalise, restructure, and transform with SMEs Go Digital Programme. This will provide support for more digital solutions, from basic remote working tools to more advanced systems until Dec 2020.

Banks and telcos like DBS, OCBC and M1 are also supporting the cause with IMDA and ESG (Enterprise SG) through the Start Digital programme. 

These packages are tied with the pre-approved HR software vendor, Talenox, to help you digitise your business and HR operations in this period of time.

For more information on Start Digital packages with:

• DBS x Talenox, click here.
• OCBC x Talenox, click here.
• M1 x Talenox, click here.

What is Talenox?
It’s a self-service HR software that helps you say goodbye to excel! We offer:

But don’t just take our word for it. See what it’s like for your operations to Go Digital in Talenox for yourself.