Inland Revenue fixes resurgence support payment application problem

Friday, 29 October 2021

The Government will relax the criteria for claiming Covid resurgence support.

Some business owners who tried to apply for the next instalment of the resurgence payment support encountered problems on Friday.

Applications are open for a fourth payment, of up to $21,500 depending on the size of a business, for the period starting October 22.

Businesses need to have experienced a revenue drop of 30 per cent or more due to Covid-19 controls to apply.

A number of applicants said they had applied, only to be incorrectly told by Inland Revenue’s website that they were ineligible.

* More resurgence support payments coming for battling businesses

Inland Revenue’s systems have been offline for a week.

* Covid-19: More business questions answered

An Inland Revenue spokeswoman said the problem had been dealt with.

“There was a problem this morning with some people not able to apply for the RSP that opened today. That’s now been fixed and people can apply.”

Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced last week that, as of November 12, the resurgence support payment will be doubled and paid fortnightly, rather than the current three-weekly.

Inland Revenue’s systems had been offline for a week as part of the final stage of its multi-million-dollar upgrade programme but were operational again from Thursday.