The Ministry of Industry and Trade presented and announced, with effect from 26 March 2021, the call for a new subsidy program COVID 2021.
The aim of this call is to provide financial support to ensure the liquidity to entrepreneurs whose sales have decreased by at least 50% as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or the fight against it.
In general
The program was approved by Government Resolution No. 277 of 8 March 2021. The program aims to mitigate the negative effects of restrictions on measures to combat pandemic of the COVID 19 disease to business entities in the Czech Republic.
Support under the program is provided for employees in the amount of CZK 500 per day (for the purposes of the program, so-called cooperating persons pursuant to Act No. 586/1992 Coll., On Income Taxes, as amended (in the case of applicants – natural persons), as well as executives with a contract for the performance of the function of an executor).
The calculation includes only employees who were registered for the payment of insurance premiums with the Czech Social Security Administration on 11 January 2021.
If the applicant had less than three employees expressed as FTE according to the previous paragraph as of 11 January 2021, the support is set at CZK 1,500 per day.
The aid fulfils the conditions of point 3.1. Communication from the Commission: Temporary framework for State aid measures to support the economy in the current spread of COVID-19 coronavirus disease, under which direct grants (subsidies) up to (or only) up to 1,800,000 can be provided. EUR per undertaking to address urgent liquidity needs (for this limit, aid provided under most COVID programs (rent, accommodation, culture, sports, spas, etc.) is added, as well as aid granted to so-called “connected undertakings”).
Relevant period
The aid is intended to cover the eligible costs of eligible applicants in the period from 1 February 2020 to 31 March 2021. The period from 11 January to 31 March 2021 is considered to be the relevant period.
Eligible costs are costs and expenses for the operation and maintenance of a business or establishment, such as personnel costs, costs of materials, services (including leasing), depreciation, taxes and fees, loan repayments, overheads, etc., incurred from 1 February 2020 to 31 March 2021.
The support is provided in the form of a subsidy provided to the bank account of the beneficiary.
Eligible applicant
An eligible applicant is one who meets all of the following conditions:
- is a natural or legal person and carries out business activities on the basis of Act No. 455/1991 Coll., on Trade Licensing (Trade Licensing Act), as amended, or in a similar manner;
- as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, his business had fallen by at least 50% over the comparable period compared to the same period;
- has at least one employee expressed as full-time equivalents (FTE);
- was not a firm in difficulty as of 31 December 2019;
- is not a commercial company in which the public official referred to in § 2 par. 1 let. c) of Act No. 159/2006 Coll., on conflict of interests, as amended, or a person controlled by him owns a share representing at least 25% of the shareholder’s participation in the company;
- is not an unreliable payer or unreliable person under the law governing value added tax as of the date of submission of the application;
- has no overdue arrears in relation to the state budget, state funds, the budget of the territorial self-government unit or the health insurance company as of the date of submission of the application; and
- is not in liquidation.
Submission and application requirements
The application for support is again submitted through the AIS MIT system (https://aisportal.mpo.cz/AISPortal/Default). It is necessary to register in the system. If the applicant is already registered in the System, re-registration is not necessary.
To successfully register in the system, the applicant needs a functional e-mail box, eIdentity (NIA) and data box (if the applicant does not own a data box, it is possible to register the applicant by manually entering data).
The application must contain, in particular, those details which the applicant fills in directly in the system. These are, in particular, the name, registered office address and identification number of the applicant; the applicant’s bank account to which the aid is to be sent; the name and address of the provider; the amount of aid requested; the purpose for which the applicant wants to use the aid, etc.
The applicant is obliged to attach to the application:
- identification of the comparative period and justification of the decrease in sales in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic;
- identification of employees in employment, cooperating persons and executives with a contract for the performance of the function of executive for the calculation of the amount of support, and the amount of their employment; and
- a solemn declaration, a model of which is part of the invitation.
Applications can be submitted from 12 April 2021 from 9:00 to 31 May 2021 at 16:00.
Other conditions and incompatibilities with other programs
An applicant may submit only one application and may not terminate his activities within at least three months of receiving the aid.
Support for the same period cannot be combined with support from the programs COVID – Uncovered Costs, AGRICOVID, COVID Culture, COVID – SPORT III Ski Resorts. In the case of drawing support from the COVID – Accommodation II program, the support can be combined with the fact that the decisive period is considered to be 23 January 2021 to 31 March 2021. There is no legal entitlement to the support.
Conclusion
The program aims to provide financial support to provide liquidity to entrepreneurs who, as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, have lost the opportunity to run a business and provide services as a result of government measures, thus losing at least half of their profits. This is another state intervention reducing the effects of the extraordinary epidemiological situation on the business sector.
More information about the program here: https://www.mpo.cz/cz/rozcestnik/informace-o-koronavirus/program-covid-2021–260043/.
If you are interested in helping to fill in or submit the program COVID 2021 call or any other questions, do not hesitate to contact us.
Mgr. Jakub Málek, partner – malek@plegal.cz
Eliška Vetýšková, legal assistant – vetyskova@plegal.cz
31. 3. 2021