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Firms given leeway on subsidy scheme

Revenue is to allow employers who missed a key deadline to access the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tax body said it would allow some employers who had not fulfilled their PAYE reporting obligations for February 2020 by 15 March to avail of the scheme, following representations from and on behalf of some of these employers.

'Compliant'

Revenue said it was influenced by the scheme’s aim of maintaining links between employers and employees, and by “the generally tax compliant position of these employers”.

To be included in the TWSS, employees must have been included on the employer’s payroll on 29 February.

Payroll

The employers’ February 2020 payroll submission must also have been submitted to Revenue before 1 April. The tax body must also have had payroll submissions for all previous months before 15 March.

Employees who were laid off after 29 February can be taken back onto the payroll for the purposes of the scheme, Revenue said.