Final Applications for Year One open soon
The Final Applications for Year One will open on 1 April 2024.
If your business has successfully registered and provided your Statement of Readiness to NZ On Air, you will be able to submit a Final Application from 1 April. The Statement of Readiness is a prerequisite before an application can advance to the Final Application stage.
Within your Final Application, you’ll need to cover eligible expenditures incurred during the eligibility period of 1 April to 31 March 2024. For those of you who took part in the Pilot Phase, your eligibility period for Final Application is 1 October – 31 March 2024. Your application will then need to be delivered to NZ On Air no later than 30 April 2024 – which is approximately four weeks after the conclusion of the eligibility period.
Please do note, you only need to provide management accounts rather than your full financial accounts if these are not available prior to 30 April 2024.
For all the information you need to submit, check out the GDSR Financial Information Required & Eligible Expenditure document on our website or go to our Resources to Apply section.
What else do you need to know?
- Businesses can only make one application per year (excluding Pilot Phase applicants) and there is one rebate payment per year to successful applicants.
- In your application, you’ll need to declare any other government grants or subsidies you have applied for or received during the eligibility period.
- NZ On Air will carefully evaluate applications and may, if needed, request additional information or seek clarification from you.
- NZ On Air will be conducting spot audits on selected Year One applications to ensure they adhere to the integrity of the GDSR.
- We do encourage you to seek accounting advice from an accredited accountant or auditor to ensure that your expenditure records are appropriately documented.
- It is vital that all sections of the Final Application form are completed, and all relevant documents attached.
- Please be aware that for the assessment of a final application a substantial amount of material is required to support your application – so please give yourself plenty of time to complete the application.
- In terms of when successful applicants will receive the rebate, NZ On Air will invoice the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) at the end of the financial year and payments will be processed in as timely a manner as possible. The earliest we will be accepting invoices from successful applicants will be 21 June 2024.
- Please review the Timeline on our website for the latest timings on the Final Application process.
- If you have any further questions, either go to the GDSR section of our website or email us at gamesrebate@nzonair.govt.nz.
Webinar
We want to make sure you have all the information you need to fill out the Final Application form, so NZGDA will be hosting a webinar on Wednesday 3 April from 3-4pm where you can ask NZ On Air any questions you have about the Final Application process.
We will also be doing a walkthrough of the portal for Final Applications so you can see what to expect when you undertake the application process.
To find out more about the webinar and how to register, go to the NZGDA events page or email the team at info@nzgda.com.
GDSR Programme Manager
We have recommenced the recruitment for a Programme Manager to join the GDSR team at NZ On Air. This role will be focused on helping to steer the strategic vision and administration of the GDSR, as well as supporting the needs of game development businesses and helping to grow the game development sector. The role is a fixed-term position located in Te Whanganui-a-Tara|Wellington, so you'll either be a local or willing to relocate to our capital city.
The full job ad, including a detailed job description, is now up on the Jobs section of our website. Applications close Friday 5 April.
Keeping up to date
To help with the application process, remember we have a Resources to Apply section on our website. Here, you can now find a handy PDF preview of our Final Application form so you can see exactly how it will look when you start your application post 1 April. Also, we will soon be updating our General Guidelines document with additional clarification and detail on things such as eligible expenditure.
These updates largely stem from insights gained from the Pilot Phase, as well as further enquiries we received from the sector during the registration and Statement of Readiness process. Please make sure you bookmark our page and keep an eye out for these updates, so you have the most up-to-date information at your fingertips when preparing your Final Application.
Contact Us
As always, we are more than happy for you to contact us if you have questions or need further assistance. Our email is gamesrebate@nzonair.govt.nz.
Also, if your colleagues or industry connections haven't yet signed up for these GDSR Updates, please let them know they can go here to register for the NZ On Air Game Development Sector Rebate (GDSR) updates.