More generous Regime A of Antivirus to continue until year end
On 14 October 2020, the government approved the extension of Regime A of the Antivirus programme until the end of this year. Effective from 1 October, for employers under forced restrictions of operations this type of support will be distinctly more advantageous. The extension of or any adjustment to Regimes B and C should be discussed shortly.
Since April this year, under the Antivirus programme aiming to protect employment employers have been receiving partial compensation for wage compensation paid to employees in connection with some impediments to work. Whereas Regime A applies to situations such as the forced closure or restriction of operations due to emergency measures and quarantine, Regime B deals with related economic problems employers have had to tackle, such as a limited demand for services or products. Regime C involved the waiver of social security premiums.
Whereas Regime C ended at the end of August, Regimes A and B were repeatedly extended by the government and were supposed to be replaced by kurzarbeit (short-time working scheme), i.e. a concept of support at the time of partial unemployment. However, the first kurzarbeit bill was met with a lot of criticism and is almost certain not to be passed before the end of October.
In response to the deteriorating pandemic situation and new measures restricting business activities, the government has decided to extend the provision of support under Antivirus’ Regime A, currently until the end of this year.
Employers whose operations have been restricted will receive higher support than before: whereas until the end of September they were entitled to compensation equal to 80% of wage compensation paid to employees including mandatory payments but only up to CZK 39 thousand per employee, from October they will be entitled to the reimbursement of 100% of wage compensation, receiving a maximum of CZK 50 thousand per employee. In the case of imposed quarantine, the provided support remains the same: 80% of the paid wage compensation.
At the closing date of the Tax and Legal Update, the government had not disclosed the full text of the appropriate government decision extending the Antivirus programme. Its basic parameters were only made available via a press release. Consequently, the details of the new conditions applicable to the extended Regime A are not known yet and may therefore vary from the information that has so far been disclosed.