Statute Details
- Title: COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Prescribed Matters for Second Schedule) Regulations 2021
- Act Code: COVID19TMA2020-S20-2021
- Legislation Type: Subsidiary Legislation (SL)
- Authorising Act: COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 (Act 14 of 2020)
- Commencement: 15 January 2021
- Primary Purpose (as reflected in the text): Prescribes how to calculate “annual revenue” and related thresholds for eligibility under the Second Schedule to the Act
- Key Provisions in the extract:
- Section 1: Citation and commencement
- Section 2: Definitions (including “Accounting Standards”, “financial statements”, “financial year”, and “date of establishment”)
- Section 3: Prescribed amount of annual revenue (set at $30 million)
- Section 4: Determination of annual revenue (including formula-based computation)
- Schedule: Revenue of party seeking relief (referenced in the computation)
- Legislative Status (per metadata): Current version as at 27 Mar 2026
- Instrument Reference (timeline): SL 20/2021 (dated 15 Jan 2021)
What Is This Legislation About?
The COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Prescribed Matters for Second Schedule) Regulations 2021 (“the Regulations”) are subsidiary legislation made under the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020. In practical terms, the Regulations provide the technical rules needed to apply a relief framework in the Act’s Second Schedule. The focus of the Regulations is on one crucial eligibility concept: annual revenue (and, by extension, how to determine it for businesses and groups seeking relief).
During the COVID-19 period, the Government introduced temporary measures to support affected persons, including businesses, through relief schemes that depended on objective financial thresholds. The Act sets out the broad relief architecture, while the Regulations “fill in the blanks” by prescribing (i) the relevant revenue threshold and (ii) the method for calculating annual revenue where financial years and establishment dates vary across applicants.
For practitioners, the key point is that these Regulations are not merely definitional. They are a calculation instrument. They define terms used in the Act and then prescribe a structured approach—often involving a formula—to determine annual revenue as at a reference period ending 31 March 2020. This matters because eligibility and the quantum of relief can turn on whether an applicant meets the prescribed revenue threshold and how their revenue is annualised.
What Are the Key Provisions?
1. Citation and commencement (Section 1)
Section 1 confirms the Regulations’ short title and that they came into operation on 15 January 2021. This is relevant for determining which version applies to applications and administrative decisions made after that date.
2. Definitions that drive the revenue computation (Section 2)
Section 2 is extensive and is designed to ensure consistent interpretation. Several defined terms are particularly important:
- “Accounting Standards”: refers to standards made or formulated by the Accounting Standards Council under Part III of the Accounting Standards Act (Cap. 2B). This anchors what “audited financial statements” should be prepared in accordance with.
- “business”: broad definition capturing professions, trades, occupations, and undertakings, whether or not conducted regularly or for fee/profit. This supports a wide class of potential applicants.
- “date of establishment”: a critical concept used to determine the “period from establishment to 31 March 2020” for annualisation. The definition varies depending on the applicant’s legal form (individual proprietor, partnership, limited partnership, body corporate, and other unincorporate bodies). For example:
- For an individual proprietor under a registered business name: the date of registration under the Business Names Registration Act 2014.
- For a limited partnership: the date of registration under section 12 of the Limited Partnerships Act (Cap. 163B).
- For a body corporate or other unincorporate body: the date of incorporation or establishment.
- “financial statements” and “financial year”: these definitions determine what documents and periods are used to measure revenue. They also distinguish between persons other than individual proprietors and individual proprietors.
- “individual proprietor” and “registered business name”: cross-referenced to the Business Names Registration Act 2014.
3. Prescribed amount of annual revenue (Section 3)
Section 3 sets the prescribed amount of annual revenue at $30 million for the purposes of paragraph 1(a) of Part 3 of the Second Schedule to the Act. The provision applies both to:
- the party seeking relief itself (where it is one of the named categories “A, C or D” in the Act’s Second Schedule framework), and
- the group of which the party seeking relief is a member (where the applicant is within a group).
This threshold is a gatekeeping number. In practice, it will be used to determine whether the applicant’s annual revenue is above or below the prescribed amount, affecting eligibility and/or the relief mechanism.
4. Determination of annual revenue (Section 4)
Section 4 is the heart of the Regulations. It provides how to compute annual revenue for the purposes of paragraph 1(a) of Part 3 of the Second Schedule to the Act. The computation depends on whether the applicant is a member of a group or not, and on the applicant’s date of establishment and latest financial year ending on or before 31 March 2020.
(a) Applicants not in a group (Section 4(1))
Where the party seeking relief is not a member of a group, Section 4(1) distinguishes between two scenarios:
- Scenario 1 (sufficient historical period): If the period from the date of establishment to 31 March 2020 is 12 months or more, and the latest financial year ending on or before 31 March 2020 is also a 12-month period, then annual revenue is taken as the revenue figure described in the Schedule for that financial year.
- Scenario 2 (otherwise): In all other cases, annual revenue is determined using a formula (set out in Section 4(2)).
(b) Formula-based annualisation (Section 4(2))
The formula uses variables L and M (as shown in the extract). The structure is designed to annualise revenue where the applicant’s relevant revenue period is not a full 12 months. In broad terms:
- L represents the revenue figure to be used, drawn from the Schedule, but selected based on the applicant’s establishment timing and whether a financial year ended on or before 31 March 2020.
- M represents the number of days in the relevant period (either in the latest financial year ending on or before 31 March 2020, or in the “period of revenue” used when a full 12-month financial year is not available).
The extract shows multiple sub-scenarios for selecting L depending on how long the business has existed and whether it has a financial year ending on or before 31 March 2020. Notably, it addresses cases such as:
- where the business existed for 12 months or more but the latest financial year is not exactly 12 months;
- where the business does not have a financial year ending on or before 31 March 2020;
- where the business existed for between 1 month and less than 12 months; and
- where the date of establishment is after 1 March 2020, in which case the “period of revenue” is taken up to 31 December 2020 (as reflected in the extract).
(c) Applicants that are members of a group (Section 4(3) and (4))
If the party seeking relief is a member of a group, Section 4(3) and (4) provide a parallel approach, but the computation is for the group’s annual revenue. The logic again depends on whether at least two members of the group have existed for one month or more up to 31 March 2020, and whether the group has a latest financial year ending on or before 31 March 2020 that is a 12-month period.
Where the group does not have a suitable 12-month financial year, the formula again uses variables (including N in the extract) to determine the revenue and the relevant period. The extract indicates that, in certain cases, the “period of revenue” may run from the later of (i) the earliest establishment date among group members or (ii) 1 April 2019, up to 31 March 2020. This is designed to standardise the measurement period across groups with different commencement dates.
Practical note: The extract provided truncates the later parts of Section 4(4). However, the visible structure makes clear that the Regulations are meant to be applied systematically: identify establishment dates, identify the latest financial year(s) ending on or before 31 March 2020, determine whether the period is a full 12 months, and then apply the formula to annualise revenue using the Schedule-defined “revenue” measure.
5. The Schedule (Revenue of party seeking relief)
Although the extract does not reproduce the Schedule content, it is explicitly referenced in Sections 4(1) and 4(2) as the source of the “revenue” figure used in the computation. For practitioners, obtaining and reviewing the Schedule is essential because the formula’s L variable depends on what the Regulations treat as “revenue” (e.g., whether it aligns with turnover, gross revenue, or another accounting measure).
How Is This Legislation Structured?
The Regulations are structured as follows:
- Part/Sections: The instrument is short and consists of Sections 1 to 5 (with Section 5 referenced in the metadata, though not included in the extract).
- Section 1: Citation and commencement.
- Section 2: Definitions, including key concepts for determining establishment dates and financial statement periods.
- Section 3: Prescribed annual revenue threshold of $30 million.
- Section 4: Detailed method for determining annual revenue, including formula-based annualisation for non-standard financial periods and special rules for groups.
- Section 5: Mentioned in the enacting formula (likely dealing with “amount of fall in revenue”, consistent with the Regulations’ title and the Act’s relief framework).
- The Schedule: Defines “Revenue of party seeking relief” used in the computation.
Who Does This Legislation Apply To?
The Regulations apply to persons who seek relief under the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 framework that is implemented through the Act’s Second Schedule. The threshold and calculation rules are relevant to “parties seeking relief” and, where applicable, the groups of which those parties are members.
Because Section 2 defines “business” broadly (including professions, trades, occupations, and undertakings), the Regulations are not limited to incorporated companies. The “date of establishment” definition also indicates that the rules are intended to apply across different legal forms—individual proprietors, partnerships, limited partnerships, and bodies corporate/unincorporate.
Why Is This Legislation Important?
From a practitioner’s perspective, the Regulations are important because they translate an eligibility concept (“annual revenue”) into a workable calculation method. COVID-19 relief schemes often faced administrative complexity: businesses had different financial year ends, some were newly established, and groups had multiple entities with staggered commencement dates. The Regulations address these issues by prescribing objective rules tied to establishment dates and financial statement periods.
Second, the Regulations’ revenue threshold—$30 million—is a clear numerical benchmark. Whether an applicant’s annual revenue is computed as a full 12-month figure or annualised from a shorter period can be decisive. The formula-based approach in Section 4 is therefore not merely academic; it can affect whether the applicant meets the prescribed amount and how the relief framework is applied.
Third, the Regulations’ cross-references to accounting standards and financial statements mean that evidence and documentation matter. Practitioners should ensure that the applicant’s financial statements are prepared in accordance with the relevant “Accounting Standards” (or equivalent standards where applicable) and that the correct “revenue” measure in the Schedule is used.
Related Legislation
- COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 (Act 14 of 2020) — authorising legislation and the Second Schedule relief framework
- Accounting Standards Act (Cap. 2B) — basis for “Accounting Standards” referenced in Section 2
- Business Names Registration Act 2014 (Act 29 of 2014) — definitions and “date of establishment” for registered business names
- Limited Partnerships Act (Cap. 163B) — “date of establishment” for limited partnerships
Source Documents
This article provides an overview of the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Prescribed Matters for Second Schedule) Regulations 2021 for legal research and educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult the official text for authoritative provisions.