COVID-19: Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme – Operational Phase

The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS), operated by Revenue, moved into its ‘Operational Phase’ on 4 May 2020 and applies to payroll submissions from that date.

The Operational Phase of the scheme will base the subsidy amount paid to each employee on each individual’s Average Revenue Net Weekly Pay (ARNWP) for January and February 2020, and the gross pay reported by their employer in the payroll submission, subject to the maximum tax-free amounts.

Features of the Operational Phase include:

• Revenue will calculate each employee’s maximum weekly wage subsidy based on the ARNWP and will provide this information for each eligible employee to the employer in the form of a CSV file (Comma Separate Values). The employer can then import this information into their payroll software directly or use the information outside of the payroll software to calculate the payments to each employee.
• The revised rates and measures for the TWSS announced on 15 April will apply from 4 May 2020 and will provide increased support to eligible employees where their ARNWP for January and February 2020 was less than €500 or in excess of €960. Details of the revised rates can be found on the TWSS information page.
• Revenue will refund the employer with the subsidy amount that the employee is due to receive after any tapering of the refund has been applied.
• Revenue will perform a reconciliation of the refunds previously made to employers and adjust the amount of future refunds to take into account any overpayments of the subsidy in the period from 26 March to 4 May 2020.

From 4 May 2020, all eligible employers can download a CSV file from ROS, which includes details of the maximum personal subsidy amount, as calculated by Revenue, in respect of each employee, based on the employee’s ARNWP. The file will also contain details of the maximum weekly additional gross payment the employer can make while still receiving the full subsidy. The CSV file will only contain details of the employee’s employments with the specific employer that is downloading the file.

The CSV file can be downloaded in ROS by employers who are registered for Employer PAYE-Emp, and their agents:

• The file is available in ROS Employer Services under ‘Request RPNs’.
• A new option is available to ‘Request Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme calculation’.
• Select ‘Request Calculation’ and enter ROS password.
• The CSV file downloads and should be available in the browser downloads folder. The file will be called TWSS_EmployerNo_DateTimeStamp.csv with the EmployerNo and DateTimeStamp.
• Follow Payroll software instructions to import the downloaded CSV file.

Employers and agents should ensure that their payroll packages are up to date and can accept the Revenue CSV file.

A technical document describing the structure of the data contents of the CSV file is available on the Revenue website. Click here to see a sample CSV file.

If you require assistance in accessing these supports or with any challenges you currently face during this crisis, please contact a member of the tax team or your normal Crowe contact.