FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – UPDATE FOR COVID-19 GRANTS & OTHER SUPPORTS

As SME businesses continue to focus on ‘getting back to normal’ over the Summer months, there have been a number of further extensions, updates and announcements made by the Government in recent weeks – impacting various grants and other existing support measures. See our key frequently asked questions below.

Q – Will the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) be continuing beyond June 2021 ?

Yes – the Government has announced that the EWSS scheme will continue in operation until 31st
December 2021.

It will broadly continue to be operated as it has to date in terms of the grants/rates of support etc.,
except that from 1st July 2021, the ‘eligibility’ calculation will be based on turnover of the business
for the FULL YEAR of 2021 in comparison with the turnover for the same period in 2019.
This is a change from previous months when the calculation was based on a 6 month period.
Additionally from 1st October 2021, further changes to the EWSS scheme will be made – however
the details will only be announced in due course

Q – Are there any extensions to the period(s) that we can carry any COVID related tax debts
forward ?

Yes – the ‘tax warehousing’ scheme has also been extended further by the Government.
In broad terms, tax debts (VAT, PAYE, income tax, PRSI, USC and TWSS overpayments) can be
‘warehoused’ through to 31st December 2021, there is an additional ‘interest free’ period for those
tax debts provided by Revenue through to 31st December 2022, and then a ‘reduced interest rate’ of
3% will apply to any remaining tax debts from 1st January 2023.

See more frequently asked questions in our guide below!

Back to blog