Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and hopefully the debate will help clarify some of the issues raised by him which have caused legitimate confusion earlier on in the scheme. The CRSS is a targeted support for businesses significantly impacted by restrictions introduced by the Government under public health regulations to combat the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The support is available to companies, self-employed individuals and partnerships who carry on a trade or trading activities, the profits from which are chargeable to tax under Case I Schedule D, from a business premises located in a region subject to restrictions introduced in line with the Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19.

To be eligible to make a claim under CRSS, a business must, under the specific terms of the regulations, be required to either prohibit, or significantly restrict customers from accessing its business premises to purchase goods or services with the result that during the period of restrictions, turnover does not exceed an amount based on 25% of the average weekly turnover of the business in 2019, or in 2020, in the few case of a new business.

The legislative basis for CRSS is section 11 of the Finance Act 2020, which was finalised through the Oireachtas the day before yesterday. Revenue is administering the scheme and has published detailed guidelines on its operation which are available on the website. The guidelines are based on the terms and conditions of the scheme which are set out in the legislation. The purpose of the guidelines is to assist businesses in understanding the scope of the scheme and assessing their eligibility to make a claim. The guidelines published on 4 December are an update to previous guidelines, in order to address common queries and issues raised by taxpayers in respect to eligible businesses, how to make a claim and also to reflect the recent announcement of the "restart week" available to businesses which have recommenced on the lifting of the Covid-19 restrictions.

I can be clear that this update did not introduce new conditionality to the CRSS. There can be no question as to a business that was previously eligible becoming ineligible after the publication on 4 December of the updated guidelines. Therefore, it is not a question of which set of guidelines should apply. When the original guidelines were issued, many businesses contacted the Revenue Commissioners for clarification, and the clarification may not have been clear. The Government issued more amplified guidelines, none of which changed the original rules. Rather, they provided additional information for potential applicants.

The scheme commenced with effect from 13 October 2020 and is in place until 31 March 2021. It operates on a self-assessment basis. A person registering his or her details and the details of his or her business activity for the purpose of making a claim should retain evidence supporting the basis for making a claim under the scheme. Where a person's application or claim is selected for verification by the Revenue Commissioners, the latter will request such evidence to verify that person's entitlement to make a claim under the scheme. It is appropriate for the Revenue Commissioners to issue clarification to assist businesses in assessing their eligibility. This is preferable to businesses wrongly making claims for payments that have to be repaid subsequently.

The new guidelines were issued for clarification purposes in order that people would be clear about whether they were eligible. It was not to put businesses through a process of making an application for a payment for which they were not eligible. The Revenue clarification made it very clear in advance. Where people have already submitted applications, the Revenue Commissioners felt it would be beneficial to provide further clarification, but no amendments. What was issued was just an amplification to help potential applicants in order that they would not make a claim if they were not eligible in the first place and so that if they did make a claim, they would not be found, at a later date in an Revenue audit, to not have been entitled to have done so, potentially requiring repayment.

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