Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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133. To ask the Minister for Finance the money owed to Revenue due to overpayments arising from the employment wage subsidy scheme, by sector, in tabular form. [49947/23]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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135. To ask the Minister for Finance the money owed to Revenue due to ineligible businesses accessing the employment wage subsidy scheme, by sector, in tabular form. [49949/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 133 and 135 together.

Section 28B of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 provides for the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), which was an economy-wide enterprise support provided to eligible businesses in respect of eligible employees.

The administration of the EWSS was placed under the care and management of Revenue.

As the Scheme was operated on a “self-assessment” basis, with employers signing a declaration stating that their business qualified for the Scheme, proof of eligibility was not requested at registration stage. In signing the declaration, employers agreed to abide by the terms and conditions of the Scheme and undertook to retain all records relating to the Scheme, including the basis of eligibility, for review by Revenue at a later stage.

I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that no EWSS overpayments arose as a result of Revenue paying out money in excess of what was claimed.

I am also advised by Revenue that since the commencement of the Scheme, Revenue has undertaken a multi-faceted approach to compliance checks to safeguard the integrity of the EWSS. This has included real-time risk-based checking of submissions and cross-referencing of claims data against other Revenue data sources to identify anomalies or trends requiring attention. During these compliance checks, with specific regard to the issue of ineligibility, it was agreed or determined that some businesses were wholly ineligible for the Scheme, some were ineligible for certain periods, some businesses were ineligible in respect of certain separate business divisions, and some businesses that were eligible had claimed in respect of some employees who were ineligible.

Following cessation of the Scheme, Revenue advise that in June 2022 self-review letters were issued to over 42,500 employers who had been registered for the EWSS. These letters informed employers that if they identified any invalid claims, they should correct their payroll records and repay the relevant subsidy and PRSI credit amounts no later than 30 September 2022. If an employer was eligible to participate in Revenue’s Debt Warehousing, any EWSS or related PRSI liabilities that they declared by 30 September 2022, could be included in the Debt Warehouse. Of the total money owed in respect of EWSS, the amount currently in the Debt Warehouse is €74 million, with the balance of €26 million subject to normal collection procedures.

Revenue is unable to provide a breakdown of the amount of money owed specifically by wholly ineligible businesses that claimed EWSS subsidies.

However, the table below shows, by sector, the total amount of EWSS subsidies currently owed to Revenue. As at 10 November 2023, the total accumulated EWSS subsidies outstanding amounts to €100 million. Accommodation and Food, Wholesale and Retail, and Construction sectors represent the highest contributing sectors, which combined account for 55% of the total EWSS subsidies owed.

Table - EWSS Debt outstanding by Sector

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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134. To ask the Minister for Finance the money owed to Revenue due to overpayments arising from the temporary wage subsidy scheme, by sector, in tabular form. [49948/23]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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136. To ask the Minister for Finance the money owed to Revenue due to ineligible businesses accessing the temporary wage subsidy scheme, by sector, in tabular form. [49950/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 134 and 136 together.

The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) operated from March to August 2020 and provided subsidies totalling €2.85 billion to over 67,000 employers to assist in maintaining the employment of over 689,000 employees.

I am advised that the scheme provided for payments based on specified percentages of an employee’s average weekly pay. However, in order to get the scheme up and running quickly during the emergency circumstances of 2020, for an initial “transition period” of 6 weeks, employers were paid a flat amount of €410 in respect of each eligible employee. Employers were asked to calculate the correct amount payable and retain the balance to be returned to Revenue as part of a “Reconciliation” exercise after the conclusion of the scheme.

I am further advised that Revenue operated a comprehensive campaign of compliance checks in respect of every employer availing of the scheme to ensure that they met the eligibility criteria and that the monies involved were properly paid out to employees.

Revenue’s compliance activity resulted in 1,945 employers (some 2.8% of claimant employers) being required to repay subsidies either wholly or partly. The repayments due amounted to in excess of €40 million.

The reconciliation exercise was conducted across all claimant employers after the close of the scheme and identified an aggregate liability of €308 million, the majority of which related to the initial transitional period of the scheme.

As of 9 November 2023, there is a balance of €37.35 million of TWSS liabilities outstanding as shown by sector in the table below. This is comprised of both TWSS compliance and reconciliation net amounts and it is not possible to separately apportion the amounts due to either compliance activities or the reconciliation exercise. Of this amount some €33 million is currently included in the tax debt warehouse with the remainder subject to collection activity. There is a further €7.9 million under appeal with the Tax Appeals Commission.