Thomas Byrne
Question:39. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Finance the status of an application by a business (details supplied) for the temporary wage subsidy scheme. [11674/20]
View answerTuesday, 23 June 2020
Questions (39)
Written answers
The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) is an emergency measure to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy. It builds on data returned to Revenue through the PAYE system and as such is a fully automated solution. The automated solution, which was developed in a very short timeframe in response to the pandemic, is designed around the dates specified in the legislation and cannot function where those timelines are not strictly adhered to. The timelines require that employees were on the payroll at 29 February 2020 and that employers had fulfilled their PAYE reporting obligations for February 2020 before 15 March 2020.
The 15 March 2020 deadline in respect of the February payroll submission was recently extended to ‘before’ 1 April 2020 by Revenue under its care and management provisions. However, this concession can only apply where all previous payroll submissions were received by 15 March 2020. The concession is also only applicable on a prospective basis and cannot be applied to previous pay periods.
I am advised by Revenue that the business in question filed its February 2020 payroll submission on 20 March 2020, which was outside of the 15 March deadline specified in the legislation, thereby preventing initial access to the TWSS. However, the business does have access under the revised ‘before’ 1 April concessionary arrangements and is receiving subsidy payments.