North Carolina Business Recovery Grant Application Deadline is 1/31/2022

North Carolina’s Business Recovery Grant (BRG) program will issue one-time payments to eligible North Carolina businesses that experienced significant economic loss due to COVID-19. This $500 million pandemic recovery grant program will be administered by the NC Department of Revenue.

The application period closes Jan. 31, 2022, so time is of the essence!

Two types of grants are available to an eligible business that suffered an economic loss of at least 20 percent during the pandemic:

1. A Hospitality Grant for eligible arts, entertainment, and recreation businesses, as well as eligible accommodation and food service businesses such as a hotels, restaurants, or bars (NAICS codes 71 and 72).
2. A Reimbursement Grant for an eligible business not classified in NAICS Code 71 or 72 that did not receive funding from other relief programs including Paycheck Protection Program, COVID-19 Job Retention Grant, and EIDL Advance.

NCDOR will reduce grant amounts if the total amount of grants requested by all taxpayers exceeds the maximum amount of funds authorized for the for Business Recovery Grant by the state of North Carolina.

Does your business qualify for cash under this program?

The specific requirements are a bit narrow.

First:  Businesses, other than partnerships, must have filed NC sales tax in order to qualify. However, partnerships can qualify even if they didn’t file NC sales tax returns.

Second: Eligibility and the grant amount depend on (1) the type of industry and (2) whether the business has previously received any other type of pandemic-related aid.  Following are the eligibility requirements:

• Hospitality Grant (NAICS codes 71 or 72):
  • The business must have suffered an economic loss of at least 20% (Calculated using gross receipts reported on the North Carolina Sales and Use Tax Return and IRS Form 1065)
  • The business must be subject to North Carolina income tax

• ​​​​​​​Reimbursement Grant (all other NAICS codes)
  • The business did not receive relief from other relief programs including Paycheck Protection Program, COVID-19 Job Retention Grant, and EIDL Advance
  • The business must have suffered an economic loss of at least 20% (Calculated using gross receipts reported on the North Carolina Sales and Use Tax Return and IRS Form 1065)
  • The business must be subject to North Carolina income tax

The grant amount is a percentage of the economic loss demonstrated by the eligible business or $500,000, whichever is less.  The business’ economic loss is determined based on the amount that its gross receipts in North Carolina were reduced from the period March 1, 2019 through February 29, 2020 (“Pre-COVID Period”) to the period March 1, 2020 through February 28, 2021 (“COVID Period”).

For most applicants, gross receipts are the gross receipts reported on Line 1 of the NC Sales and Use Tax Return (“Form E-500”). However, if the applicant did not report gross receipts on Line 1 of Form E-500, gross receipts are the sum of the receipts reported on Lines 4-8 of Form E-500. A partnership that filed a federal Form 1065 (US Partnership Return of Income) may also include gross receipts reported on Line 1a of Form 1065 that meet both of the following criteria: 1) the gross receipts were not reported on Form E-500 and 2) the receipts are for transactions apportioned to North Carolina.

Grant amounts will be determined at the conclusion of the application period. All payments will be made by check, mailed to the address provided by the respective business once the amounts are determined after the application period closes.

We’re here to help!

WebsterRogers’ State and Local Tax (SALT) Team is here to answer any questions you have about this grant program, and is avilable to assist with completing an application.  Reach out to the WebsterRogers’ SALT Team today to discuss your situation and how we can help.