Hwasun County Distributes "Support Fund" to Small Business Owners

[Hwasun=Asia Economy, Honam Bureau, Kim Jiwoon] Hwasun County in South Jeolla Province announced on March 31 that the “Small Business Owner Support Fund Plus” from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been distributed since March 29 to small business owners affected by the spread of COVID-19.

The Support Fund Plus is the fourth round of disaster relief aid provided by the government to small business owners whose sales have decreased due to the spread of COVID-19, as well as to those experiencing business difficulties due to administrative orders for business suspension.

Support is available not only for small business owners with fewer than five regular employees (or fewer than ten in manufacturing, etc.), but also for small enterprises. In addition, the annual sales limit for general business types has been raised from 400 million won or less to 1 billion won or less, expanding the number of eligible recipients.

In the previous round of the Support Fund, only one business could receive aid even if a representative operated multiple businesses. However, under the current Support Fund Plus, applications can be made for up to four businesses per representative.

To apply for the support fund, applicants can search for “Small Business Owner Support Fund Plus” on a portal site or enter “버팀목자금플러스.kr” in the address bar to access the official Support Fund Plus website.

Eligible recipients are those who started their businesses before February 28 and are classified under business suspension, business restriction, or general business types (businesses in crisis or with decreased sales).

In the county, businesses subject to suspension orders include entertainment bars, karaoke bars, colatecs, and hold'em pubs. Businesses subject to operating restrictions include restaurants and cafes, indoor sports facilities, singing rooms, direct sales promotion centers, private institutes and tutoring centers, and lodging facilities.

This round of the Support Fund Plus has been subdivided into seven categories to provide tailored support for affected businesses: two types of business suspension, one type of business restriction, and four types of general business.

For businesses that were subject to business suspension orders from the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters or local governments for six weeks or more during the twelve weeks from November 24, 2020, to February 14, 2021, 5 million won will be provided. For those subject to suspension for less than six weeks, 4 million won will be provided.

For businesses that complied with business restriction orders during the same period and experienced a decrease in sales in 2020 compared to the previous year, 3 million won will be provided.

General business types that were not subject to business suspension or restriction will receive differentiated support based on the degree of damage, classified as “businesses in crisis” and “businesses with decreased sales.” Businesses in crisis are those whose sales decreased by 20% or more compared to the previous year, as identified through National Tax Service data analysis, and include 112 sub-sectors across the top 10 fields.

For sectors such as travel agencies or movie theater operations, where the sales decline rate is 60% or more, 3 million won will be provided.

For industries such as wedding halls, performance venues, exhibition/convention and event agencies, where the sales decline rate is 40% or more but less than 60%, 2.5 million won will be provided. For chartered bus transportation or hair salons, where the sales decline rate is 20% or more but less than 40%, 2 million won will be provided.

For general business types that do not fall under the “businesses in crisis” category, if annual sales are 1 billion won or less and sales have decreased, 1 million won will be provided.

For more details, please contact the dedicated Support Fund Plus call center.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.