Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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93. To ask the Minister for Finance if there are dates by which a new hire must have been hired by a company to avail of the employment wage subsidy scheme. [22860/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Employment Wages Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) was legislated for under the recently enacted Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Act 2020. The EWSS provides a flat-rate subsidy to qualifying employers, based on the number of qualifying employeeson the payroll. For every qualifying employee paid between €203 and €1,462 gross per week, the level of subsidy is €203. For every qualifying employee paid between €151.50 and €202.99 gross per week, the subsidy is €151.50. No subsidy is paid for employees paid less than €151.50 or more than €1,462 gross per week.

Unlike the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, there is no restriction on the date by which a new hire must have been hired by a company to avail of the EWSS, provided such recruitments are undertaken for bona fide business purposes and not with the intention to maximise subsidy claims. A subsidy can be claimed in respect of employees of an impacted business on the payroll and in receipt of gross wages between €151.50 and €1,462 subject to limited exceptions in relation to connected persons during the period of the scheme.

Connected persons includes the husband, wife, civil partner or relative of the employer, and relative includes a lineal descendant, brother, sister, uncle aunt, nice or nephew. I have been advised by Revenue that only connected persons on the payroll of the employer and paid at any time between 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 are eligible for EWSS. Thus newly hired connected persons are not considered eligible employees.

In recognition of the exclusion from TWSS of new entities, seasonal employees and new hires, under EWSS eligible employers can back date a claim for the EWSS to 1 July 2020 where the employer was not eligible for TWSS or, where the employer had employees not eligible for TWSS. These cases will be dealt with as part of a ‘sweepback’ with payment to employers made in September.

Finally, I would draw the attention of the Deputy to the comprehensive information on the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme, including guidance for employers who wish to make a claim under the ‘sweepback’ process which is available on the Revenue website.

Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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94. To ask the Minister for Finance if consideration has been given to allowing sole traders to access the employment wage subsidy scheme, as they would be entitled to if they were listed as a company director in circumstances in which all other qualifying criteria for the scheme are met. [22871/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) was legislated for in the recently enacted Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Act 2020. The objective of the EWSS is to support employment and maintain the link between the employer and employee insofar as is possible, as well as enabling employers scale back up their business.

The EWSS provides a flat-rate subsidy to qualifying employers based on the number of qualifying employees on the payroll. A sole-trader’s business may be a qualifying employer for the purpose of the scheme, the same as is the case for any other employer. As was the case under the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS), sole-traders are not eligible to claim the EWSS in respect of their own employment as they are not employees – and further, may not necessarily be paid via the payroll system unlike proprietary directors who are obliged to have PAYE operated on any payments made to them personally.

The EWSS is a significant economy wide support for employers, but it is not the only measure that the Government have put in place to support businesses at this time, including those that are specifically targeted at sole-traders, such as the income tax loss relief measure that was announced in July as part of the Stimulus Package. This new once-off income tax relief is targeted at self-employed individuals carrying on a trade or profession who were profitable in 2019 but, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, incur losses in 2020. The measure allows such individuals to claim to have those losses (and certain unused capital allowances) carried back and deducted from their profits for the tax year 2019 providing a cash-flow boost of up to €5,000 or €10,000 as applicable.

Further, there are a range of other business support measures available, such as Credit Guarantee Scheme, the SBCI Working Capital Scheme, Sustaining Enterprise Fund, and the Covid-19 Business Loans Scheme.