Revenue to withhold EWSS from firms who have not confirmed eligibility

Revenue will withhold Covid wage support payments from employers that have yet to file forms confirming their eligibility for the scheme from Wednesday.

Businesses seeking the pandemic employee wage support scheme (EWSS) for June and July should have filed an eligibility review form with Revenue by the 15th of last month.

Revenue said on Tuesday that it would “pause” access to the scheme to any businesses that have yet to file the eligibility forms from September 1st.

“Where such businesses subsequently complete and submit the outstanding EWSS eligibility review forms, and thereby confirm they continue to meet the eligibility criteria of the scheme, they can resume claiming EWSS support,” said Revenue.

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“Any subsidies claimed but not paid while EWSS eligibility review forms were outstanding will then also be processed for payment.”

Revenue pays the support each month to businesses whose sales or customer orders are 30 per cent down on the comparable period in 2019, the year before Covid struck.

The latest figures show that 40,900 employers were registered with Revenue for the EWSS on August 26th, Wednesday of last week.

Almost 70 per cent of businesses claiming the support for June and July had submitted eligibility forms for those months by close of business on Monday.

The form, introduced as Government began lifting Covid curbs this year, confirms that businesses remain entitled to the wage supports.

Payments to about 350,000 workers are covered by the forms submitted to the tax authorities.

Revenue had extended the deadline for the submission of June forms by two weeks to August 15th, the same day the July forms were due.

The authority subsequently contacted 12,300 organisations, along with agents for a further 14,350, that had not submitted their forms by August 15th, to ensure that they remained eligible. Large numbers of businesses continue to qualify for the aid more than a month after the Government eased restrictions such as the bans on indoor dining and drinking.

In August, Revenue processed claims for almost €279 million in aid from 23,800 employers to pay 277,700 workers.

In addition, this left the State short €41.2 million in social insurance payments. However, the figures for August are not yet complete, according to Revenue.

In July, 31,800 employers covering 343,500 workers had claims for €452.7 million processed. The bill for lost pay-related social insurance was €66 million.