Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2020
35. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Finance the action he is taking against employers that avail of the temporary wage subsidy scheme but then fail to pay their employees the required wage based on the stated calculation that forms the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12509/20]
View answerThe Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) is provided for in section 28 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020. The administration of the TWSS is under the care and management of Revenue.
Of necessity, Revenue’s primary focus in operating the TWSS so far has been on providing a timely and efficient customer support service to ensure that much needed financial assistance is paid to employers and employees as quickly as possible. Eligibility for the TWSS is initially determined largely on the basis of the self-assessment and declaration by the employer concerned, combined with a risk focused follow up verification by Revenue involving an examination of relevant business records where that is considered necessary.
I am advised by Revenue that where an employer has been paid a wage subsidy in respect of an employee and it transpires that the employer has not passed on the wage subsidy to the employee, or that the employer was not entitled to receive the wage subsidy in respect of the employee, the relevant law requires that the employer must refund the wage subsidy amount to Revenue. Any amount due to be so refunded to Revenue is treated as if it were tax due and payable by the employer from the date the wage subsidy amount in question had been paid by Revenue and is automatically so due and payable by the employer without the making of an assessment. However, where necessary, Revenue may make an assessment to recover the amounts in question and the provisions of tax law governing assessments to income tax, appeals against such assessments and the collection of and recovery of income tax apply in relation to the assessment, collection and recovery of wage subsidy amounts from employers. In other words, the full suite of tax collection and enforcement powers, including the charging of interest on amounts due to be refunded by employers, is available to Revenue to recover wage subsidy amounts due to be refunded by employers.
The law governing the TWSS also provides for penalties for abuses of the scheme but only in certain prescribed circumstances. Thus, an employer is liable to a penalty of €4,000, where the employer fails to include in, and separately identify in, the wage slips legally required to be given to employees under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 the amount of the wage subsidy. Where the employer who fails to comply is a body of persons, the secretary of that body is liable to a separate penalty of €3,000. These penalties are designed to ensure transparency around the wage subsidy and to protect employees who are entitled to know what wage subsidy the employer has received in respect of them.
Finally, I would add that details of subsidy payments made by pay date are available to view in each employee’s myAccount record. This facility allows employees to view whether their employer is participating in the scheme and being refunded a wage subsidy on their behalf. Where the amount of subsidy paid is available from employer payroll submissions made to Revenue, this amount is also being displayed.
