Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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313. To ask the Minister for Finance if there is a formal process for appeals for refusal of the temporary wage subsidy scheme payment from the Revenue Commissioners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19743/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) was legislated for in section 28 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020. The key eligibility criteria for the scheme are that:

- the business is suffering significant negative economic impact due to the pandemic, specifically the employer must demonstrate to Revenue’s satisfaction that, by reason of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent disruption to business, the employer’s turnover or business orders will be reduced by at least 25% for the period from 14 March 2020 to 30 June 2020;

- the employees in respect of whom the wage subsidy is claimed were included on the employer’s payroll on 29 February 2020; and

- the February 2020 payroll submissions were submitted by the employer to Revenue before, in general, 15 March 2020 but recently extended, by concession, to 1 April 2020. 

The operation of the scheme is largely based on self-assessment principles.  Compliance with the eligibility criteria is fundamentally a question of fact.  Accordingly, there is no formal appeal mechanism as such provided for in the legislation. However, in the absence of such a mechanism, Revenue has taken a reasonable and pragmatic approach to the issue of disputes whereby, via their customer complaints procedures, aggrieved businesses can engage with Revenue on the matter by providing supporting evidence and submissions setting out their rationale for inclusion in the TWSS.