Support Enterprises and Safeguard Jobs
27. For enterprises, new relief measures include:
| (a) | introducing a concessionary low-interest loan under the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme, under which 100% guarantee will be provided by the Government. The application period will last for six months. The maximum amount of loan for eligible enterprises is based on their salary and rental expenditures for six months, subject to a ceiling of $2 million. The repayment period is up to three years and, on an opt-in basis, a principal moratorium is available for the first six months during which only interest payments have to be made. The Government will provide guarantee of up to $20 billion under this concessionary loan scheme; |
| (b) | reducing profits tax for the year of assessment 2019/20 by 100 per cent, subject to a ceiling of $20,000. The reduction will be reflected in the final tax payable for the year of assessment 2019/20. This will benefit 141 000 taxpayers and reduce government revenue by $2 billion; |
| (c) | waiving rates for non-domestic properties for four quarters of 2020-21, subject to a ceiling of $5,000 per quarter in the first two quarters and a ceiling of $1,500 per quarter in the remaining two quarters for each rateable non-domestic property. This proposal is estimated to benefit 420 000 non-domestic properties and reduce government revenue by $3.2 billion; |
| (d) | waiving the business registration fees for 2020-21. This will benefit 1.5 million business operators and reduce government revenue by $3 billion; |
| (e) | waiving the registration fees for all annual returns (except for late delivery) charged by the Companies Registry for two years. This will benefit about 1.4 million companies and reduce related revenue by about $212 million in total; |
Moreover, I will continue to implement the following measures:
| (f) | providing a subsidy to each eligible non-domestic household accounts for four extra months to cover 75 per cent of their monthly billed electricity charges, subject to a monthly cap of $5,000 per account. This will involve an expenditure of about $2.9 billion; |
| (g) | waiving 75 per cent of water and sewage charges payable by non-domestic households for four extra months, subject to a monthly cap of $20,000 and $12,500 respectively per household. This will reduce government revenue by $340 million; |
| (h) | providing a new round of rental subsidy for six months to local recycling enterprises. This will involve an expenditure of about $100 million; |
| (i) | reducing rental by 50 per cent for another six months for eligible tenants of government properties, government land and EcoPark. This will reduce government revenue by $573 million; |
| (j) | reducing rental and fees by 50 per cent for another six months for eligible operators of properties covered by short-term waivers. This will reduce government revenue by $265 million; |
| (k) | providing hirers of civic centres under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) with a 50 per cent reduction of hire charges for another six months. This will reduce government revenue by $23 million; and |
| (l) | offering another six months of fees and rent reduction for cruise lines and existing tenants of the Cruise Terminal. This will reduce government revenue by $18 million. |
28. The above initiatives will cost a total of $18.3 billion. I hope that they will not only help support our enterprises but also safeguard jobs for more than three million workers. I appeal to all employers and employees to stand together to ride out the difficult times.
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