With the upheaval being caused to many SMEs by the Covid-19 lockdown and the potential for many of those SMEs to fail, the risk to people who have provided personal guarantees (PG’s) for company debts increases.
The support packages for companies being provided by the Government and the major trading banks is good news for the employees, because of the 12-week wage subsidy package, and for those businesses that can meet bank lending requirements to access the business finance guarantee scheme or possibly can use the debt hibernation and tax packages.
But the position for those companies that have other significant overheads and possibly were loss making startups or were already struggling, and for the individuals involved with those companies that have personally guaranteed some of the company obligations, the picture is not so bright.
It is expected that some creditors will make demand on individuals for payment of those company debts, pursuant to their PG’s, and, in the event the debt is not paid, proceed to bankrupt the individual concerned.
Bankruptcy:
If the holders of PG’s or sole (unincorporated) traders end up being bankrupted, or declaring bankruptcy, due to the financial impact of the lockdowns largely through circumstances and decisions outside of their control, the current repercussions are, in our opinion, too harsh.
We would support a new personal insolvency regime that allows those bankrupted (say a Covid class) that can reasonably show the bankruptcy arose from Covid 19’s impact, be given a clean slate alongside an agreed reasonable repayment plan for the personal debts over time (potentially managed by responsible third parties) so that those people are:
- Not impacted further;
- Not consigned to the unemployment lines or pushed into the “black economy”;
- Able to access credit
- Able to open bank accounts
- Able to restart in business
Reducing the prospect of bankruptcy the below packages have been and remain available.
Wage Subsidy:
There are some companies who have applied for and received the 12-week wage subsidy for their staff that will not survive through the 12 week period and will be placed into liquidation.
The subsidy was provided so that staff could be retained to enable businesses to continue post lockdown. So, what happens if that doesn’t occur?
We understand that individual employees who received the wage subsidy payments will not be asked to pay any of those funds back, but what about the company and the directors involved who signed the declaration confirming employment for 12 weeks and best endeavours to provide ongoing employment? Will the directors be personally liable under the scheme for those funds?
MSD have advised that on liquidation, if the Liquidators cannot retain the staff, then they can use the subsidy to pay out employee entitlements (i.e. notice period) and any surplus funds should be returned to MSD. The wage subsidy cannot be used to pay out any redundancy obligations in an employee’s employment contract.
The wage subsidy, although providing some relief, doesn’t cover the other on-going expenses of the company that may be continuing whilst in lockdown such as rent, insurance, ACC payments, hire purchase payments and finance payments and interest.
Those amounts will continue to accrue, some with penalties being incurred for non-payment and many, such as rent, hire purchase and finance payments will in all likelihood, be covered by personal guarantees.
Business Finance Guarantee Scheme:
This provides for extra finance to be provided by the trading banks to eligible companies with the Government carrying 80% of the risk and the bank 20%. The bank will still be in the position of deciding whether or not a company is worth lending to but, with the bank carrying 20% of the risk it is to be expected that their lending criteria will continue to be enforced.
The loans have to be repaid in the normal manner, according to the terms agreed to and will, in all likelihood, be covered by a General Security over the company’s assets and either a pre-existing or new personal guarantee. So, what happens if the company fails before the loan is repaid?
Does the bank have to try and recover the full amount owing under the loan in the usual fashion – firstly from the company concerned and, if necessary, from the guarantors before it can call on the Government for its 80%? That appears to be the case.
An article published by Simon Thompson on Linkedin on 21 April 20 “How Does the NZ SME Loan Guarantee Scheme Measure Up To Others?” read here he comments “The simplistic property based focus will not be enough and their [the banks] blanket catch-all personal guarantees discourage applications.”
The article further suggests “An alternative model is to have a limited personal guarantee whereby the SME owners are only liable for the debt if there has been fraud or theft of funds from the business. The SMEs must pledge that the finance will be used exclusively for business purposes and that personal drawings will be no higher than in previous periods or as per a business plan.” And “The personal guarantee, if it is applied, should also be capped at 20% of the loss, as the UK model allows. The NZ Government already guarantees 80% of the risk under this scheme, while the bank takes 100% of the profit from the loans and has just 20% risk. Surely under that environment special conditions should apply.”
The following table developed by Mr Thompson compares the loan schemes in NZ, Australia and UK:
Tax:
There are a wide range of proposed tax changes including;
• Depreciation on assets for some classes of assets
• Not charging UOMI on new debt
• Temporary loss carry back scheme
• Possible Permanent Removal of loss continuity provisions for the 20/21 period – discussion later in 2020, could be enacted before March 2021.
Tax payments arrangements can be modified by agreement if the taxpayer can show they have been significantly adversely affected and “income or revenue has reduced as a consequence of Covid-19 and as a result is unable to pay taxes in full on time. The key is to interact with IR as soon as practicable to agree to an arrangement to pay at the earliest opportunity.
Conclusion:
The support packages provide somewhat of a life line for businesses that were viable before the Covid-19 lockdown and will be able to recover once “normal” (what ever that is like) trading resumes, but for those companies that were already struggling and cease operating, Covids impact and the support packages could become a millstone around the neck of the directors, and others, who have provided personal guarantees.
It is important that individuals who have provided personal guarantees and may be exposed to claims against their personal assets, seek independent advice from their professional advisors before taking any actions that might increase that risk and the level of exposure.