Coronavirus: contribution for employees and self - employed persons

Conditions for granting the contribution

Self-employed persons who are not employers and were obliged to close operations or have restricted their activities and employers and self-employed persons whose sales have decreased by at least 20% may apply from 8 April 2020 from 12:00 noon for a contribution to compensate employee's salary or flat-rate contribution to compensate loss of income from self-employment (hereinafter referred to as the  „contribution“).

The Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic at its website: https://www.employment.gov.sk/sk/informacie-media/aktuality/spustame-prvu-pomoc.html published more information about granting the contribution (please note, that this is not an official document issued by the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic).

According to the published information, the contribution described here is not intended for employers and self-employed persons who are employers who had to close their operations. These can claim contribution to compensation of employee's salary of 80% of their average earnings, up to a maximum of EUR 1 100, as of 6 April 2020 from 12:00 noon.

According to this measure, Employers, including self-employed persons with employees who have not been obliged to close or restrict their operations and whose sales have decreased by at least 20%, may apply for contribution to employee's salary. The amount of the contribution is determined by the decrease in sales. The condition should be to maintain the job place also after the end of the crisis period. There is currently no precise determination of the period during which it is necessary to maintain such job, unofficially it should be 2 months. The contribution is granted to an employee to whom the employer or self-employed person cannot assign work due to an obstacle on the side of the employer (obstacles must be assessed according to§142 of the Labor Code).

In addition to the above, self-employed persons themselves who have discontinued or restricted their self-employment, or their sales have decreased by at least 20% may apply for a flat-rate contribution to compensate loss of income from self-employment.

Calculation of the decrease in sales

Each applicant chooses one of the alternatives to the method of calculating the decrease in sales, namely:

1. comparison of sales for the reporting month with sales for the same month of the previous year (e.g. for the reporting period 03/2020 - previous is 03/2019), or
2. comparison of the average of sales in 2019 (i.e. 1/12 of sales for 2019) with sales for the reporting month - only those who have been employed throughout 2019 are eligible, or
3. comparison of the February 2020 sales with the reported month sales - only those who were engaged in business activity for only part of 2019 and started to engage in business activity no later than 1 February 2020 are eligible.

Amount of contribution (according to decrease in sales)

The amount of the contribution to employee's salary for the employer or the self-employed person who is employer or flat-rate contribution to compensate loss of income from self-employment shall be determined according to the decrease in sales.

Date for granting contribution

The contribution is provided from 13 March 2020 - from the date of the decision of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic on closure or restriction of operations until the end of the calendar month in which the decision of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic will be canceled.

Detailed application instructions are available on the website: www.pomahameludom.sk and https://www.neprepustaj.sk/. APPLICATIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE TO SUBMIT FROM 8 APRIL 2020 FROM 12:00 NOON

PLEASE NOTE

The self-employed person is entitled to the contribution only if the person was compulsorily or voluntarily insured for sickness and pension in the period until 31 March 2020 and the insurance continues even after this date or the person draws the so-called levies holidays.

Entitled to the contribution is not a self-employed person who has a concurrent employment relationship or a self-employed person who has canceled or suspended a trade.

General conditions for granting of contribution

Due to the fact that the contribution is an active labor market measure within the meaning of Act No. 5/2004 Coll. on Employment Services and on amendments to certain Acts (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”), below are listed the general conditions that must be met at the same time as the above-mentioned special conditions for granting contribution.

The contribution is according to §54 section 1 par. e) of the Act considered as an active measure on the labor market. It is one of the project to support the retention of job places including job places where self-employment is carried out or operated, and to support the retention of employees in their jobs in the context of declaring an emergency, emergency state or exceptional situation and clearing their consequences, which is approved by the Ministry or the Central Office after the approval of the conditions by the Government of the Slovak Republic and is realized by the Central Office or Offices.

General conditions for granting the contribution are regulated by the Act in §70 section 7 and section 9 as follows:

• Condition for granting a contribution under the Act to an applicant who is a legal entity, a natural person or a job seeker who before being registered in the job seekers register operated or pursued a self-employed activity, is that:
  1. has fulfilled tax obligations according to a special regulation (Income Tax Act),
  2. has fulfilled the obligation to pay an advance on public health insurance, social insurance and mandatory contributions to old-age pension savings,
  3. has not violated the prohibition of illegal employment for two years prior to the submission of an application for a contribution,
  4. has no financial liabilities due to the office,
  5. is not in bankruptcy, liquidation, receivership, or does not have a payment schedule specified in a special regulation (Part Four, Title III of the Bankruptcy Act),
  6. has no unsatisfied claims of its employees arising from employment,
  7. has no legally imposed ban on receiving subsidies or subventions or a ban on receiving assistance and support provided by European Union funds, if it is a legal person.
  8. In the case of granting contribution pursuant to §54 section 1 par. e) of the Act (and hence the contribution in terms of the adopted economic measures), the fulfillment of the conditions under the previous point is proven by the applicant's affidavit, unless the contrary is proved. If the Office subsequently finds out that the applicant did not meet the conditions set out in the previous point at the date of submission of the application, the applicant shall be obliged to return the granted contribution. This also applies to applications for contributions under the economic measures taken in connection with COVID-19 disease.

We draw the attention to the fact that, pursuant to §72am of the Act, an employer receiving a contribution within the framework of projects pursuant to §54 section 1 par. e) of the Act (and hence the contribution in terms of the adopted economic measures) which must be registered in the register of public sector partners, the obligation to register in the register of public sector partners is considered fulfilled until 31 December 2020.

More detailed information, such as the requisites of the affidavit or the list of employees for the submission of the contribution, are available, for example, on the following website: https://www.podnikajte.sk/financie-na-podnikanie/prispevok-pre-podnikatelov-koronavirus. However, please note that they are not official information.