Tag Archive for: covid-19

COVID-19 – Supporting our Clients

COVID-19 Client Response Team

Updated 22 May 2020

Our COVID-19 Client Response Team is continuing to closely monitor developments relating to COVID-19 as they emerge and is ready to provide you with quick and up to date advice on all your Banking, Working Capital, Cashflow, Tax, Employee and Insurance queries and concerns.

We have outlined below details on the current supports available to businesses, useful Government guidelines and other areas of consideration.

On May 22, the new €250m Restart Grant opened for applications.

On May 08, the Government published a Return to Work Protocol.

Business Supports

On May 15, the Government approved details of the Restart Grant. The Scheme offers grants worth between €2,000 and €10,000 to qualifying firms.

  • Direct grant aid of between €2,000 minimum and €10,000 based on commercial rates bill from 2019.
  • Scheme applies to small businesses with a turnover of under €5m and employing 50 people or less.
  • Grants are now open for application through Local Authorities.

On May 02, the Government announced additional measures to support business which include waiver on commercial rates, warehousing of tax liabilities and grant schemes – click here.

This follows the range of supports previously put in place by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation:

  • A €200m Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) Working Capital Scheme for eligible businesses impacted by COVID-19, which has subsequently been increased by €250m to €450m. Loans of up to €1.5m will be available at reduced rates, with up to the first €500,000 unsecured. Applications can be made through the SBCI website. 
  • A €200m Package for Enterprise Supports including a Rescue and Restructuring Scheme available through Enterprise Ireland for vulnerable but viable firms that need to restructure or transform their business.
  • The maximum loan available from MicroFinance Ireland will be increased from €25,000 to €50,000 as an immediate measure to specifically deal with exceptional circumstances that micro-enterprises – (sole traders and firms with up to 9 employees) – are facing. Applications can be made through the MFI website  or through your local LEO.
  • The Credit Guarantee Scheme will be available to COVID-19 impacted firms through the Pillar Banks. Loans of up to €1m will be available at terms of up to 7 years. The scheme provides an 80% guarantee to participating banks which are AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank.

Other Enterprise Ireland/Local Enterprise Office supports include:

  • Strategic consultancy grant for SME’s to assist the company development of a strategic response plan.
  • Act On Initiative, providing access to 2 days consultancy engagement at no extra cost to assess Financial Management, Strategic sourcing and transport and logistics advice.
  • Key Manager Support to provide partial funding towards the recruiting of a Full or Part Time Manager with critical skills for future growth.
  • Agile Innovation Fund and Operational Excellence Offer.
  • Be Prepared Grant for contingency planning.
  • Additional financial supports are available locally through the 31 Local Enterprise Offices (localenterprise.ie).
Employer and Employee Supports 

On March 24, the Government announced a National COVID-19 Income Support Scheme to provide financial support to Irish workers and companies affected by the crisis.

In summary:

  • A COVID-19 Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme to enable employers to continue to pay their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to keep employees registered with their employers, so that they will be able to get back to work quickly after the pandemic.
  • Workers who have lost their jobs due to the crisis will receive an enhanced emergency COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment of €350 per week (an increase from €203).

  • The COVID-19 illness payment will also be increased to €350 per week.
  • Self-Employed will be eligible for the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment of €350 directly from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (rather than the Revenue scheme).

COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme

If you are an employer who can demonstrate that the negative disruption is leading to a minimum of 25% decline in actual or predicted turnover and an inability to pay normal wages and outgoings – you will be able to claim the COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme.

The temporary wage subsidy of 70% of take home pay up to a maximum weekly tax free amount of €410 per week is aimed to help affected companies keep paying their employees.

On April 15, further changes were announced to the scheme:

  • For those employees with previous average net pay up to €412 per week (equivalent to almost €24,400) the subsidy will be increased from 70% to 85% of their previous net weekly pay.
  • For those employees with previous average net pay between €412 and €500 per week (equivalent to €24,400-€31,000), the subsidy will be up to €350 per week.
  • The wage subsidy is now also available to support employees where the average pre-COVID-19 salary was greater than €76,000, and their gross post-COVID-19 salary has fallen below €76,000.

The new rates apply from 4 May 2020 and will not be backdated. More details can be found here.

Income tax, USC, LPT, if applicable, and PRSI are not deducted from the Temporary Wage Subsidy.  However, the subsidy will be liable to Income Tax and USC on review at the end of the year.

Employers have to sign up to the scheme through Revenue.

Employers should note that the names and addresses of all employers operating this scheme will be published on Revenue’s website in due course, after the scheme has expired. Penalties will apply to any abuse of the Wage Subsidy Scheme by self-declaring incorrectly, by not providing funds to employees or non-adherence to Revenue and any other relevant guidelines.

A guidance document and FAQs on the operation of the of the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme and a guidance on employer eligibility and supporting proofs has been published by Revenue.

If you are self-employed, you can apply for the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment.

Income Supports

A number of income supports are available from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection for your employees during a COVID-19 related absence or temporary lay-off from work:

Amendments to the Redundancy Payments Acts

The recently published Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Bill 2020, which is expected to be passed this week, contains amendments to the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 to extend the time-periods under which a person who has been laid off or kept on short-time due to COVID-19 can claim a redundancy payment from their employer.

In normal circumstances, an employee can serve notice on the employer of their intention to claim a redundancy payment if they have been placed on lay-off or short time for a period exceeding four consecutive weeks or six weeks in any thirteen-week period.

The Bill provides that, for the duration of a designated “emergency period”, employees on lay off or short time will not be in a position to claim a redundancy payment if the lay-off or short time is due to due to COVID-19.

The “emergency period” as currently defined begins on 13 March 2020 and ends on 31 May 2020.

Cashflow and Projections

Cashflow will inevitably be an issue for all businesses in the coming weeks. It is vital that you monitor cashflow, plan and are prepared for reductions in cash inflows. Make sure that you have a cash flow projection that can be tested for various scenarios.

If you make loan repayments on bank debt you may be able to get a moratorium on repayments.

The Revenue have stated that businesses experiencing cashflow issues should still submit their tax returns on time, but that applications of interest on late payments will be suspended for VAT and PAYE liabilities. All debt enforcement activity will be suspended and tax clearance status will remain in place for businesses over the coming months.

If you need our help with cash flow reviews and projections or with your Bank or Revenue, please let us know as soon as you are aware that you have a problem.

Loss of Income

Does your insurance include cover for business interruption? Check your insurance policy and speak with your insurance broker to determine if there are any potential impacts on your business for which cover is provided in your policy. There may be little cover on common policies but some businesses may have specific Business Interruption Cover. If you have cover this can be a valuable means of recuperating loss in income.

Even if you don’t have insurance cover it will be important that you quantify the effects of the coronavirus on your bottom line. This will help you later in discussions with finance providers, suppliers, tendering etc.

  • Examine all aspects of your operations to identify potential areas of impact.
  • Track time spent managing issues related to the crisis.
  • Keep detailed records of direct costs associated with any affected business process.
  • Segregate unusual or potentially claim-related costs from normal operating expenses.
  • Maintain customer correspondence regarding cancelled orders and sales.
  • Retain copies of your pre-crisis projections, forecasts, budgets, meeting notes, etc. that detail expected operations.
Business Continuity

Ensuring your business and employees are operational during these unprecedented times requires careful planning and having a response team who is ready to make quick and sometimes difficult decisions. We would encourage you to look at The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation’s user-friendly Business Continuity Planning Checklist. This can be downloaded here.

In line with our own Business Continuity Plan and taking guidance from the Checklist, on 11 March 2020 we initiated protocols to maintain continuity on service delivery to our clients while safeguarding the health and safety of our staff. Our employees are now carrying out their work from home locations. If you need advice with your contingency planning, please contact us.

These are truly unprecedented times and Crowleys DFK are here to help you. We are at the other end of telephone (+353 1 679 0800/+353 21 427 2900) or on our dedicated email (crteam@crowleysdfk.ie) when you need us.

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Business Continuity Voucher

covid-19 business continuity voucher

Updated 3rd April 2020

The new Business Continuity Voucher is available through Local Enterprise Offices and is designed for businesses across every sector that employ up to 50 people.

The voucher is worth up to €2,500 in third party consultancy costs and can be used by companies and sole traders to develop short-term and long-term strategies to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Business Continuity Voucher is available to support businesses:

  • Develop business continuity plan
  • Assess current financial needs in the short term to medium term
  • Reduce variable costs, overheads and expenses
  • Review and explore supply chain financing options
  • Implement remote working processes or procedures
  • Leverage HR expertise
  • Leverage ICT expertise
  • Prepare a business case for application to emergency financial interventions available through Banks, SBCI and Microfinance Ireland

The goal is to help companies make informed decisions about what immediate measures and remedial actions should be taken, to protect staff and sales.

The scheme is not suitable for clients of Enterprise Ireland, IDA or Údarás na Gaeltachta.  Client companies of Enterprise Ireland, IDA or Údarás na Gaeltachta should contact their relevant agency, which have other suitable supports in place.

This is a restricted scheme with ordinarily one voucher available per business.

Qualifying applications will be processed and assessed on the basis of their receipt by the LEO to such time as the fund is exhausted or on 15 May 2020, whichever is earlier.

Application Process

  1. Download the application form.
  2. E-mail your application form directly to your Local Enterprise Office, as an attachment to your e-mail. Each Local Enterprise Office has its own e-mail address which you can find on https://www.localenterprise.ie/Find-Your-Local-Enterprise-Office/
  3. Your Local Enterprise Office will acknowledge your e-mail. After an assessment has taken place, they will let you know if your application has been successful or not.

If you need our help with the application process please contact our COVID-19 Client Response Team at crteam@crowleysdfk.ie or on +353 1 679 0800/+353 21 427 2900

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eWorking Tax Relief

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With the recent outbreak of COVID-19, employees throughout the country have been asked to work from home. While these are challenging times for both employers and employees, Revenue offer a measure of relief for employers and employees who are engaged in “eWorking”. Revenue have today confirmed in their eBrief No. 045/20 that the current Government recommendations for employees to work from home as a result of COVID-10 meet the conditions for the “eWorking” tax relief.

Revenue define eWorking as where an employee works:

  • at home on a full or part-time basis
  • part of the time at home and the remainder in the normal place of work

eWorking involves:

  • logging onto a work computer remotely
  • sending and receiving email, data or files remotely
  • developing ideas, products and services remotely.

Employers can make a payment of €3.20 per workday to an employee who is working from home without deducting PAYE, PRSI or USC. This payment is to cover expenses such as heating, electricity and broadband costs. Amounts paid in excess of €3.20 are subject to tax as normal. Records of payments made must be retained by the employer for the purpose of any potential future Revenue compliance intervention.

In addition, where employers provide any of the following equipment to their employees, no benefit-in-kind arises as long as it is primarily for business use:

  • computer, laptop or computer equipment (eg. printers, scanners)
  • software to allow you to work from home
  • telephone, mobile and broadband
  • office furniture.

There is no obligation on employers to make this payment. If employers do not make this payment, employees can instead make a claim online at the end of the year by filing a tax return. Employees are not entitled to claim the round sum of €3.20. They are entitled to claim for vouched expenses that are incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of their duties of the employment. For most office workers this would be their home heating and electricity costs.

Any reimbursement of these expenses that has already been paid by the employer should be deducted from the claim amount. While receipts are not required to file the return, Revenue can request these for a period of up to six years after the year in which the claim relates, so employees should always keep a record of these.

In the case of utility bills, Revenue have advised that they are willing to accept that the average proportion of the house attributable to a home office is 10%. Therefore, for every day an employee works at home as a result of the current Government recommendations, they are able to make a claim for 10% of the utility bills for that day.

It is important to note that outside of the current Government recommendations regarding working from home, the eWorking relief does not apply to workers who bring work home outside of normal working hours, ie. evenings and weekends.

If any further information is required or if you have questions on the above, please don’t hesitate to contact our dedicated COVID-19 Client Response Team or our Tax Department.

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Crowleys DFK COVID-19 Update

12th March 2020

In light of recent developments reported on the spread of COVID-19, on 11th March 2020 our Management Board initiated the firm’s Business Continuity Protocols.

These protocols are a series of active measures aimed at maintaining continuity on service delivery to our clients while ensuring the health and safety of our staff are safeguarded. These protocols are being continuously updated with guidance from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Health Service Authority (HSE) and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

What measures are we taking?

  1. The firm will operate both Dublin and Cork offices with minimum staffing in order to reduce the number of people in the office.
  2. We have started rolling out our Remote Working from Home procedures. By 13th March 2020, the majority of our employees will be carrying out their work from home locations. Employees are completely contactable and available for business using their existing contact details (email, phone numbers etc). We expect to be able to continue to support our clients’ needs with a minimal level of disruption.
  3. All Partners and Heads of Departments have nominated deputies and senior members of their respective Departments.
  4. All non-essential business travel has been paused.
  5. We are transitioning to virtual meetings.

This is an unprecedented and evolving situation and we are closely monitoring events as they unfold.  We will keep you informed of any future changes should they arise.  This includes any Government guidelines which might have a potential impact on compliance deadlines and incentives announced.

While the health and safety of our staff members remain our top priority, please rest assured that we are implementing all feasible measures to continue to provide the same high level of service at this time.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me on +353 1 6790 800 / +353 21 4272 900 or email james.oconnor@crowleysdfk.ie

In the meantime, please stay safe and look after yourselves and your families.

James O’Connor
Managing Partner
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