National's policy for growing enterprise would draw funds from several different sources and provide help at key points for new businesses, says BusinessNZ.

The BusinessStart scheme, announced today by National Party leader Judith Collins, would provide start-up grants of $10,000 and allow people to take $20,000 out of their KiwiSaver to start a business.

The scheme would lift thresholds for provisional tax and writing off assets, provide free mentoring and provide further grants of $10,000 for taking on a permanent employee.

Tax credits for the taxed portion of redundancy payments would be available for a new business to pay future GST or provisional tax.

BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope says the policy is a thoughtful approach to helping small business start-ups in the wake of the COVID crisis.

Under the scheme, anyone who had lost their job since March 1 or in the months ahead will receive a $1000 voucher to get financial advice from a chartered accountant or registered financial advisor on their ideas, to put together a viable business plan.

From there, once the business plans are signed off BusinessStart recipients would receive:

• Up to $20,000 of their own money from their KiwiSaver account to help get their business going.
• At least $10,000 in tax credits to pay GST or provisional tax when the business starts making a profit.
• A waiver from the Company Office registration fee of $130.
• Free mentoring from advisers like chambers of commerce, employers and manufacturers associations and Business Mentors New Zealand from a new $10 million contestable fund.

BusinessStart would provide the basics for new businesses to get going, says Collins.

National said it would extend the proposed JobStart scheme to end in March 2022 rather than March 2021.

Money for the BusinessStart scheme would be part of the proposed $500 million cost of the JobStart scheme, taken from the COVID-19 recovery fund.

BusinessStart would begin on November 1, 2020, and run for through to the end of March in 2022.

-Additional reporting by RNZ.