On 1 April 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Trade introduced a call in connection with Government Resolution No. 278 of 8 March 2021 and in accordance with the provisions of Sections 14 to 14q of Act No. 218/2000 Coll., on budgetary rules and amendments to certain other laws, as amended, which represent the new program COVID – Uncovered costs (hereinafter the “Program“).
It should be noted that the Program is an alternative to the COVID – 2021 program, which we informed you about in our previous article. Applicants will be able to choose out of these two compensations the one, which will be more advantageous for them.
In general
The aim of the Program is to compensate business entities for part of the loss (i. e. uncovered costs) and, in the form of financial compensation, help them cope with the decline in sales in connection with the government’s anti-pandemic crisis measures. The Program is intended to help entities whose turnover due to the coronavirus pandemic has decreased by at least 50% during the relevant period compared to the same period in 2019, to cover part of the costs / expenses that are not covered by revenues. The subsidy will be provided as area support regardless of the sector.
Program Terms
The relevant period to which the support under the call relates is from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021 (hereinafter the “Relevant Period“). The amount of support is 60% of uncovered costs for the Relevant Period, respectively 40% of uncovered costs for the Relevant Period for entrepreneurs with a state participation in the state or a territorial self-governing unit of the Czech Republic. The maximum amount of support is CZK 40 million/applicant.
Who can apply for support
An applicant who meets the following conditions can apply for support:
- is an entrepreneur, 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 pandemic of the COVID-19 disease, his turnover for the Relevant Period decreased by at least 50%compared to the comparison period within their business activities (turnover for the purposes of this call will be reported according to Annex 2 of the call):
- the applicant shall choose the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 March 2019 or from 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2020 as the comparison period;
- an applicant who was established (or became self-employed) only after 1 January 2020 may choose any three consecutive months in 2020 as a comparison period;
- an applicant whose business activity was reduced both during the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 March 2019 and during the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2020 due to the relevant fact (maternity leave, period of drawing parental allowance, business interruption due to long-term illness, etc.), may choose as a comparison period the period from 1 January to 31 March immediately preceding this fact, or any 3 consecutive months from October 2019 to the end of 2020;
- proves uncovered costs for the Relevant Period (details according to the call);
- as of 31 December 2019, was not an undertaking in difficulty within the meaning of Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014, or was a micro or small enterprise (within the meaning of Annex 1 to Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014) against which no collective insolvency proceedings were commenced and has not received rescue or restructuring aid;
- if rescue and restructuring aid has been granted to it, it must have paid the aid on the date on which the subsidy was granted;
- as at the date of filing the application, no decision had been made on the bankruptcy of the entrepreneur pursuant to Act No. 182/2006 Coll., On Bankruptcy and Methods of Resolving It (Insolvency Act), as amended (hereinafter the “Insolvency Act“), except for bankruptcy, where the court allowed reorganization;
- on the date of the application, the court or administrative body has not issued a resolution ordering the enforcement of the decision on his property or has not ordered the execution of his property;
- was not bankrupt or in liquidation at the date of the application;
- as of the date of filing the application, the company or business activity does not meet the conditions of the Insolvency Act for the commencement of collective insolvency proceedings, except for those companies or business activities that meet the conditions for initiating collective insolvency proceedings as a result of the spread of COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus;
- as of the date of submission of the application, he is not an unreliable payer or an unreliable person pursuant to Act No. 253/2004 Coll., On Value Added Tax, as amended;
- at the date of application, has no arrears to selected institutions and to providers of support from projects co-financed by the European Union budget. The agreement on installments or deferral of tax pursuant to Section 156 of Act No. 280/2009 Coll., The Tax Code, as amended, are not a situation where the applicant for support would be in arrears. Late payments of taxes or levies in connection with the spread of COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus on the basis of liberation packages of the Ministry of Finance or measures of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs are not considered arrears. Payments of taxes or levies that were registered in the insolvency proceedings of an applicant who was allowed to reorganize are also not considered arrears. A delay in payment is not considered to be a situation where the applicant has set a repayment schedule in connection with the spread of COVID-19 and is therefore considered debt-free;
- has not yet exhausted the aid up to a maximum of EUR 1.8 million per applicant under point 3.12. Temporary framework of the European Commission (link to the original text of the temporary framework: https://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/what_is_new/covid_19.html).
The financial results of the applicant will be proved on the basis of the so-called adjusted profit and loss statement prepared by the applicant for the Relevant Period, which must be signed by the applicant’s statutory body (or the applicant himself if he is self-employed) and the person responsible for its compilation. If the loss after deducting subsidies exceeds the amount of CZK 5 million, verification by a statutory auditor or audit company is required. The requirements for proving the economic results can be found in Annex No. 2 to the call.
The application and its annexes and particulars
The application must contain these attachments:
- affidavit of the beneficiary (this will be generated automatically by the AIS MIT system);
- an adjusted income statement (prepared in accordance with the requirements and criteria set out in Note 2);
- a report on the decrease in turnover and an overview of subsidies (compiled according to the requirements and criteria set out in Annex 2 to the call); and
- or eventually the auditor’s report containing the auditor’s conclusions on the adjusted income statement in accordance with the requirements set out in Appendix 2 to the call.
Applications are submitted through the AIS MIT information system, from 19 April 2021 from 9:00 am to 19 July 2021. Each applicant may submit only one application.
In particular, the following shall be entered into the system:
- the name, registered office address and identification number of the applicant;
- the applicant’s bank account to which the aid is to be sent;
- name and address of the provider (the system generates automatically);
- the amount of aid requested;
- the purpose for which the applicant wants to use the aid (the system generates automatically);
- the period within which this purpose is to be achieved (the system generates automatically);
- identification of the call on the basis of which the request is submitted (the system generates automatically);
- if the applicant is a legal person, identification information;
- persons acting on behalf of the representative, indicating whether they are acting as his statutory body; or act on the basis of a power of attorney (power of attorney does not require authorization);
- persons with a share in this legal entity;
- the persons in which it has a share and the amount of this share.
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 COVID 2021, AGRICOVID, COVID Kultura, COVID – SPORT III Ski Resorts programs. 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
New COVID program – Uncovered costs is an alternative to another approved COVID program – 2021. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is preparing leaflets showing the two new programs – one compares the two programs in a nutshell and the other provides more detailed information.
More information about the COVID – Uncovered Costs program can be found on the MIT website: https://www.mpo.cz/cz/rozcestnik/informace-o-koronavirus/program-covid—nepokryte-naklady–260347/.
Link to the call: https://www.mpo.cz/assets/cz/rozcestnik/informace-o-koronavirus/2021/4/Vyzva-COVID-NepokryteNaklady.pdf.
In case of any questions or in case of need of support with the preparation of an application for support from the COVID program – uncovered costs we are available to help – do not hesitate to contact us.
Mgr. Jakub Malek, partner – malek@plegal.cz
Veronika Pečová, legal assistant – pecova@plegal.cz
14. 4. 2021