The Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme

The ongoing supports from the Irish Government in respect of the Covid-19 pandemic continue with the introduction of the Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme on September 1st, 2020.

The scheme will replace the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme that was introduced at the start of the pandemic in March.  The new scheme does not have many differences in comparison to the previous schemes.  However, employers need to be aware of the qualifying criteria, including the need to assess eligibility each month.

Financial Criteria

Firstly, the following criteria apply:

Registration opened on August 18th for companies seeking to avail of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme.

How The Employer Avails of the Grant

The grant has been pitched as an employment support grant.  As a result, the employer will pay the employee their gross wages and they will receive the subsidy (if the employee qualifies based on the criteria above). The employer must include ‘EWSS’ as the payment type in the ‘Other Payments’ section on the payroll submission and input either 0c or 1c as the payment value.

Employers should remember that all gross payments made under EWSS remain liable for taxes such as USC, PRSI, and PAYE.

How To Qualify for the Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme

You can avail of the EWSS if your business started on, or before, November 1st, 2019 and you can show that your business can show a 30% reduction in turnover compared to the same period in the year before.

Or, if your business only opened after November 1st, 2019 you must be able to justify that turnover would have been 30% reduced compared to where you expected it to be in the period of July 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2020.

What If A Division of My Business Has Been Impacted and the Rest of the Business Has Not?

There are criteria contained in the EWSS that allow for distinct divisions of established companies to apply for the scheme and to place employees of that division on the EWSS while not considering other divisions with the business.  AAL would be happy to help you with this issue. It is quite a complex issue including the need to demonstrate that more than 50% of the employees in the division have been impacted by a reduction in customer orders or turnover.

Finally, to avail of this scheme employers must possess or be able to obtain an up to date tax clearance document.

Contact Us

We can assist you with the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme.  It is a complex scheme and must be administered properly for employers and employees.  Call us on 052 61 37775 or email: [email protected]