Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2020
55. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Finance if he will review the anomaly in the temporary wage subsidy scheme in which a limited company that runs a quarterly payroll has been deemed ineligible for the scheme for that reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11972/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government’s priority in so far as the Temporary Wages Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) is concerned was and is to ensure that employers experiencing significant negative economic disruption from COVID-19 can register for and start to receive payment quickly. The purpose of the scheme is to ensure that the relationship between employers and employees is maintained to the greatest extent possible so that businesses can restart operations quickly once the crisis has passed.
The TWSS is provided for in section 28 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020. Of necessity, the underlying legislation and the scheme itself were developed quickly, having regard to the objective of getting assistance to employers and employees, where businesses have been seriously affected by the pandemic and the necessary restrictions introduced to fight the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
In the context of the compelling need for immediate implementation of the TWSS, the scheme necessarily had to build on data returned to Revenue through its real-time PAYE system for January and February 2020. The key criterial for eligibility for the scheme, as prescribed in the underlying law, are that –
- the business is suffering significant negative economic impact due to the pandemic,
- the employees were on the payroll at 29 February 2020, and
- the employer had fulfilled its PAYE reporting obligations for February 2020 by, in general, 15 March 2020, but recently extended, by concession, to 1 April 2020.
The latter two criteria were particularly designed to prevent abuse and exploitation of the scheme.
The TWSS cannot be tailored to meet the particular individual circumstances of every single employer or employee. Given the mechanism for operation of the TWSS, Revenue has advised me that where an employer operates a quarterly payroll, the necessary reporting requirements will not be met as the payroll frequency must be weekly, fortnightly or monthly in order for the TWSS to operate. Since the employers in question only pay their employees once a quarter, there were no wage payments in January or February 2020 and, therefore, no payments on which to base the subsidy.
Revenue further advise me that, under PAYE legislation, some employers qualify to pay their PAYE/PRSI/USC liabilities to Revenue on a quarterly basis. Some of those employers may nonetheless operate their payroll on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis. Where this is the case, while the PAYE/PRSI/USC payments are due quarterly, the employers are still legally obliged to make their payroll notifications to Revenue as the payrolls are run. If those employers complied with their obligations in that respect, they would then be eligible for the TWSS in relation to the employees concerned.
