Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
392. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for Finance if it is necessary for employers to resubmit their eligibility for the employment wage subsidy scheme monthly given the demand on businesses and accountants and the additional pressure this would exert on them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40352/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraSection 28B of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 provides for the introduction of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) from September 2020. The EWSS is an economy-wide enterprise support for eligible businesses in respect of eligible employees. The Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021, which was signed into law on 19 July 2021, provides for the extension of the subsidy scheme to 31 December 2021.
As well as extending the duration of the EWSS, the recently enacted legislation also provides for a significant change in the assessment period used to determine eligibility for the payment of supports to employers in respect of pay dates between 1 July and 31 December 2021. For most businesses, eligibility will now be determined by comparing the turnover or level of customer orders of the business for the full calendar year 2021 with the turnover or level of customer orders for the full year 2019. Employers must be able to demonstrate a 30% reduction in turnover (or orders) in 2021 compared to 2019.
With many businesses remaining closed or limited in their capacity to trade due to the public health restrictions in place, upon the resumption of normal trading, such businesses can potentially generate turnover or customer orders of up to 70% of their full turnover/customer orders for 2019 during the remainder of 2021 and may still remain eligible to claim support under the scheme.
It has been a key requirement of the EWSS since its introduction that employers undertake a review on the last day of every month to ensure they continue to meet the scheme’s eligibility criteria. If it is manifest to the employer that it no longer meets the eligibility test for qualification for the scheme, then the employer must immediately cease claiming wage subsidy payments. With the further extension of the EWSS, it continues to be very important that employers review their ongoing eligibility for the scheme, and this is especially so as elements of normal trading activities resume for certain businesses.
To assist employers in conducting this monthly review of their continuing eligibility for the scheme, Revenue has developed an EWSS Eligibility Review Form which is available via its online service, ROS.
The Eligibility Review Form is completed by entering data, that should be readily available to employers from their financial records, into a series of fields on an online screen. Once these fields have been updated by the employer for the first monthly review, they are automatically pre-filled each month thereafter and only minimal data entry is required from then on.
Completing and submitting an EWSS Eligibility Review Form to Revenue will be necessary to continue to avail of EWSS supports, with details of an employer’s monthly eligibility review check to be submitted by 30 July 2021 in respect of the review for the month of June 2021 and by the 15th of the following month in respect of each month in the July to November 2021 period.
The development of the EWSS Eligibility Review Form is a very welcome initiative from Revenue and should greatly assist employers and their agents in monitoring their own/their clients’ ongoing entitlement to subsidy payments from the EWSS. Timely submission of the form provides assurance to both employers and Revenue that subsequent EWSS claims are appropriate and in line with the terms of the scheme.
As the Deputy is aware, the EWSS has been a key component of the Government’s response to the Covid-19 crisis to support viable firms and encourage employment in the midst of these very challenging times. The EWSS continues to be a major support for businesses as to date, payments of over €4.04 billion and PRSI credit of over €652 million have been granted to 50,700 employers in respect of almost 622,000 employees.
The requirement for employers to review their eligibility for the scheme has been a feature of the scheme since its introduction last September. Given the scale of resources being disbursed from Exchequer funds under the EWSS, I consider that the eligibility review is the minimum level of due diligence required of employers and Revenue has sought to make the process as user-friendly as possible. As the economy opens up, greater variability in trading conditions will be a feature of trading from now on. In this context the EWSS Eligibility Review Form provides employers and Revenue with a very practical means to ensure eligibility for the scheme and it will reduce the possibility of employers, inadvertently or incorrectly, claiming EWSS amounts to which they are not entitled and having to subsequently repay those amounts to Revenue.
