Revenue confirm ‘operational phase’ of TWSS now in place

Since 26 March 2020, Revenue has been administering the COVID-19 Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) on behalf of the Government. In the initial phase of the scheme, eligible employers were reimbursed a maximum subsidy of €410 in respect of each eligible employee, regardless of the employee’s income.

Today (8/5/2020) Revenue confirmed that the TWSS is now based on each eligible employee’s average net weekly pay for January and February 2020, based on the payroll submissions made (to Revenue) by the employer.

Additionally, Revenue confirmed that it has now implemented the majority of the revised rates as determined by the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, on 15 April 2020, with the remainder to be implemented shortly. The initial revised rates now implemented, include:

• the 85% subsidy rate for employees whose average net weekly pay does not exceed €412
• non tapering of the 85% subsidy where an employer contribution of more than 15% of the employees net weekly pay results in a salary payment of up to €350 per week
• the flat rate subsidy of up to €350 for employees whose average net weekly pay is more than €412 but less than €500
• the 70% subsidy rate for employees whose average net weekly pay is more than €500 but less than €586, with a maximum subsidy of €410 applying
• a maximum payment of €350 per week for employees whose average net weekly pay is greater than €586 per week but not more than €960 per week, subject to specific tapering reductions based on the employer contribution to the net weekly earnings.

The relevant tapering rates are outlined in the ‘Rates of Subsidy from 4 May 2020’ section.

The TWSS is operated in real-time by employers through the normal payroll process. To ensure that subsidy amounts are paid to employees on a timely basis as part of the relevant payroll run, it is necessary to calculate the amount of the subsidy due to an employee based on the employee’s gross pay. This is necessary as an employee’s net pay cannot be fully determined before the actual payroll is run. Revenue is aware that, in effect, this means that for some employees where the employer pays between (net weekly) €586 and €960, the full amount of the subsidy due to an employee may not be paid through the payroll run concerned. However, Revenue has confirmed it will be implementing a system development to ensure that any subsidy amounts that remain due to such employees will be calculated, by Revenue, following the submission of the actual payroll or payrolls. Revenue will pay any additional subsidy amount directly to the bank accounts of the employees concerned. The necessary system development to achieve this will be implemented shortly and will be applied retrospectively from 4 May to any impacted weekly, fortnightly or monthly paid employees.

Full details of how employers will operate theTWSS during the ‘operational phase’ can be found on Revenue’s website.

Also yesterday, Revenue published further updated TWSS statistics on the Revenue website.

[Ends 8/5/2020]