Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS)

How did the TWSS operate?

Employers implemented the TWSS through their payroll system. This ensured that you received the wage subsidy payment along with any other payments made by your employer.

You did not have to do anything to benefit from the TWSS. Your employer needed to register for the scheme with Revenue.

Your employer was required by law to separately identify the subsidy element on your payslip as 'GovCov19 WageSub'.

Employer additional payments

Your employer could make additional payments to you, to supplement the wage subsidy payment being made.

The additional payment amounts were subject to certain limits. The combination of the wage subsidy and the additional payment could not exceed 100% of your normal pre-COVID net-weekly pay.

These additional payments were treated as gross pay, were taxable and reported to Revenue on the employer payroll submission.

Subsidy payments

The amount of subsidy paid to your employer was based on your Average Revenue Net Weekly Pay (ARNWP) before the pandemic affected your employer's business. Your ARNWP was calculated using the pay and tax information for the months of January and February 2020.

The TWSS operated in two phases:

• transitional phase (26 March to 3 May 2020)
• operational phase (4 May to 31 August 2020).

There were different rates for each phase.

Next: When was an employee eligible?