EMPLOYMENT WAGE SUBSIDY SCHEME (EWSS) - 1800 98 76 09 www.taxassist.ie - EMPLOYERS' GUIDE TO
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EMPLOYERS’ GUIDE TO THE EMPLOYMENT WAGE SUBSIDY SCHEME (EWSS) 1800 98 76 09 www.taxassist.ie
The New Employment
Am I Eligible?
Wage Subsidy Scheme
(EWSS) 1. Do you have Tax Clearance?
You must possess a valid tax clearance
The COVID-19 Temporary Wage Subsidy
certificate to enter the EWSS and continue to
Scheme (TWSS), implemented in March at
maintain tax clearance for the duration of the
the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, ceases
scheme.
to operate on 31st August 2020. It is being
replaced by the new Employment Wage It is important to note here that it is not only
Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) which will come into you, as employer, that has tax clearance but
effect on 1 September 2020.
st also all connected parties. Connected parties
for tax clearance purposes are as follows:
From 1 September eligible employers can
st
• Business Partners (not civil partner or
claim the EWSS for their employees, provided spouse);
they meet all the requirements. • Partnerships;
• Directors/Shareholders of a Company;
There are 2 parts to the EWSS: • Previous Business Entity/Licence holder
1. Qualifying employers can claim back a where the applicant is succeeding to the
flat-rate subsidy for each eligible employee licenced trade;
2. Employers PRSI will be reduced to 0.5% • Employer where the applicant is SPSV
for the wages paid to eligible employees Driver or CAB applicant; and
• VAT Group remitter if the applicant is a
member of a VAT Group
Tax clearance will be issued if you are availing
of Debt Warehousing and/or you currently
have outstanding tax liabilities which are the
subject of a valid up to date phased payment
arrangement with Revenue.
If you want to utilise the EWSS and have
outstanding tax returns and/or liabilities you
should approach Revenue ASAP to negotiate
a phased payment arrangement.
2. Has your Turnover Reduced? Eligibility Review Form
In order to be eligible for the EWSS you must Up to 30 June 2021 a review of eligibility
be able to demonstrate that: was needed at the end of each month and
1. your business is expected to experience employers needed to retain detailed back up
a 30% reduction in turnover or orders proving their eligibility. This did not need to
between 01 Jan and 30 Jun 2021 be sent to Revenue but could still be requested.
looking at the period as whole rather than
From 30 June this has changed and you need
on a monthly basis; and
to complete an online monthly Employer
2. this disruption is caused by COVID-19.
Eligibility Review Form through ROS.
When predicting your reduction in turnover:
The initial submission should be made by 15
• If your business was in existence prior
August 2021.
to 01 Jan 2019 you compare with the same
period in 2019 On the Revenue form you will need to
• If your business commenced trading provide details of the following:
between 01 Jan and 01 May 2019 compare • actual monthly VAT exclusive turnover or
with the date of commencement to 30 Jun customer order values for 2019
2019 • actual monthly VAT exclusive turnover or
• If your business commenced after 01 May customer order values for the first six
2019 compare with the projected turnover months of 2021, and
or orders for 01 Jan 2021 to 30 Jun 2021 • monthly projections for the remainder of
2021, July to December 2021.
When undertaking a review of the potential
drop in turnover, employers need to include By the 15th of every subsequent month
all sources of trade income specifically during the scheme, you will need to provide
including sales, donations, state funding etc. details of the actual results for the previous
and include government grants e.g. Restart month. You will also need to review the
Grant original projections you provided to ensure
they remain valid.
Note: The EWSS will be taxed on employers
as part of their trading income but you do not The July submission will also be due with the
need to include it when predicting the 30% initial submission on 15th August.
reduction in turnover. Failure to complete this return will result in
suspension of payment of your EWSS claims.
Eligible Employees Employees working in a business division or
related group entity not expected to suffer a
A subsidy can be claimed in respect of em-
30% reduction will not qualify for the EWSS.
ployees on the payroll and in receipt of gross
wages of between €151.50 and €1,462 per Some employees have more than 1 employ-
week (subject to limited exceptions below). ment with more than 1 eligible employer. In
this case, each employer makes its own claim.
There are no restrictions on taking on new
employees or movement of employees under
the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of
Rate of Subsidy from 20 Oct
2020 to 31 Mar 2021
Employment) (TUPE) legislation.
Employee Gross Subsidy
Exceptions Weekly Wages Payable
1. Proprietary Directors Less than € 151.50 Nil
Originally proprietary directors were exclud- From €151.50 to €202.99 €203
ed. However, in recognition of key role played From €203 to €299.99 €250
by certain proprietary directors in providing From €300 to €399.99 €300
employment, EWSS can be claimed in respect From €400 to €1,462 €350
of proprietary directors, subject to certain More than €1,462 Nil
criteria:
For pay periods other than weekly, gross
• the employer meets the eligibility criteria
weekly wage will be calculated by dividing
• the proprietary director is on the payroll of
the returned gross wage by the number of
the eligible employer, and
insurable weeks included.
• the proprietary director has been paid
wages which were reported to Revenue on To provide monthly subsidy payments to em-
the payroll at any stage between 1 July ployers, EWSS can only be claimed in respect
2019 and 30 June 2020. of payroll submissions of at least a monthly
2. Connected Parties frequency.
Connected Parties who were not on the Gross wage as reported on the payroll sub-
payroll & paid between 1st Jul 2019 & 30th Jun mission includes notional pay and is before
2020 are not included. Connected parties in- deduction of items such as pensions and
clude brothers, sisters, linear ancestors, linear salary sacrifice. Excludes any DEASP benefits
descendants, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews which employees may have mandated to be
of an individual and their spouse. paid to employer (e.g. illness/maternity etc.).
3. Other Employees
Note: Where employees are included in more than one
Employees employed other than as part of payroll by an employer (e.g. on a weekly payroll for wages
a business e.g. domestic employees such as and monthly payroll for bonuses), subsidy entitlement is be
calculated by combining the money paid under both payrolls.
childminders, housekeepers, gardeners etc.
How to Register To indicate that a subsidy is being requested
for an eligible employee, you must include
‘EWSS’ as the payment type in the ‘Other
Payments’ section on the payroll submission
and input the digit zero or one cent.
All payroll submissions should be processed
through ROS by the 14th of the following
month.
When a valid submission has been made Rev-
enue will process the subsidies for payment.
From 09 November 2020 subsidies will be
Eligible employers, or their payroll or finan- paid within 2 working days of receipt of a
cial agents, will be able to register for EWSS valid payroll submission.
through ROS.
Revenue will also credit any excess Employers
Registration applications will only be pro- PRSI on the payroll submission against the
cessed if the employer is registered for PAYE/ payroll liabilities due by the employer for that
PRSI as an employer, has a bank account period.
linked to that registration, and has tax clear-
ance.
New/Seasonal Employees
How it works As a number of new employers and new/
seasonal employees were excluded from the
Under the new scheme, unlike the TWSS,
TWSS Revenue have agreed to backdate the
employers pay their employees as normal.
application of the new EWSS to 1st Jul 2020
Employees’ pay tax at the normal rates. Pays-
for those affected.
lips will not mention the EWSS.
In order to qualify to backdate the claim the
Similarly, normal Employers PRSI rates should
employer either:
be applied during the payroll process e.g.
11.05% for Class A1 employees. • was not eligible for TWSS; or
• had employees not eligible for TWSS.
These will be dealt with as part of a ‘sweep-
back’ with payment made in September.
This will operate as follows:
1. Revenue will publish a template on
Revenue.ie in early September
• On 15th September Revenue will release KNOWLEGDE HUB
a new link on ROS where you will use the
template to provide information for
eligible employees
Announcements on
• Revenue will use this information to
calculate the total subsidy due to be paid
• The subsidy will be paid into a designated
bank account after 16th Sep
new schemes and
Note: no additional submissions or amend-
changes to existing
ments will be processed on or after 14th Sep
schemes are being
in respect of Jul/Aug.
made all the time.
Compliance Checks
For the latest
information visit
taxassist.ie/covid19
The scheme will be administered by Revenue
on a self-assessment basis. To ensure com-
pliance, Revenue will undertake assurance
checks in relation to the scheme. Further
details on how this future assurance check www.taxassist.ie
1800 98 76 09
program will operate will issue in due course.
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