Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020
256. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Finance the reason for the decision to exclude propriety owners and directors working to keep their business afloat from the new employment wage subsidy scheme in view of the fact that they were previously included in the temporary wage subsidy scheme; the reason for the change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21263/20]
View answer278. Deputy Marian Harkin asked the Minister for Finance the reason proprietary directors and certain connected persons cannot access the new employer wage subsidy scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21252/20]
View answer290. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Finance if consideration has been given to allowing proprietary directors without employees access to the employment wage subsidy scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21823/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 256, 278 and 290 together.
The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) was legislated for in the recently enacted Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Act 2020. The EWSS provides a flat-rate subsidy to qualifying employers, based on the number of qualifying employees on the payroll.
Under the legislation as enacted, proprietary directors are not qualifying employees for the purposes of the scheme. The primary rationale behind the exclusion is that a proprietary director is a person who is the owner (or co-owner) of a company and so it is considered that such a position is much less likely to be a vulnerable employment when compared with regular workers, noting an objective of the EWSS is to maintain the relationship between employee and employer insofar as is possible.
However, as I announced at the end of July, this position has been revisited and the EWSS can be claimed by an eligible employer in respect of proprietary directors. Following the review of the matter undertaken by my Department and the Revenue Commissioners it has been agreed that the only additional qualifying criteria that will apply in the case of proprietary directors as qualifying employees is that the proprietary director has to have been paid wages which were reported to Revenue on the payroll of the eligible employer at any stage between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020. Further, it has also been agreed that where a person is a proprietary director of two or more eligible companies, a claim for EWSS can only be submitted in respect of a single company only.
The amending legislation necessary to give a statutory footing to the above will be included in the Finance Bill later this year.
In the meantime, the above will be implemented by Revenue as confirmed in both a press release that was issued on 31 Augustsee
https://www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/press-office/press-releases/2020/pr-310820-proprietary-directors-ewss-1-September.aspx
and the updated Guidance
https://www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/communications/documents/ewss-guidelines.pdf
