Second call under COVID – Uncovered Costs programme
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has prepared a second call to participate in the COVID – Uncovered Costs programme, aiming to compensate for fixed costs incurred by entrepreneurs reporting significant decreases in sales compared with the period before the COVID-19 pandemic. Applications for support may be filed from 28 June 2021.
The basic condition for awarding support is a decrease in sales for the relevant period of 2021 by at least 50% compared with the same period in 2019. This is a change from the first call of the programme (discussed in this article), under which the decrease in sales was compared with a comparable period in either 2019 or 2020.
The relevant period for second-call purposes is 1 April to 31 May 2021. Where applicants cannot prove a sufficient decrease in sales for the entire relevant period but did suffer a decrease of more than 50% in April 2021, it is possible to claim just this month as the relevant period.
As under the first call, support shall amount to 60% of uncovered costs for the relevant period (or 40% for applicants with any ownership interest held by the state or local self-government). Again, it is necessary to prepare an adjusted income statement for the relevant period in accordance with the call’s requirements. Uncovered costs shall mean losses net of subsidies as specified by Section 3.1 of the European Commission’s Temporary Framework, i.e. Antivirus A, B, A Plus and other subsidies for eligible expenses. Where losses net of subsidies exceed CZK 5 million, applicants will have to submit an adjusted income statement (prepared in accordance with the call’s requirements) verified by their auditor.
The maximum subsidy amount is CZK 25 million (or CZK 15 million, where applicants chose April 2021 as their relevant period) or the amount of the undrawn subsidy determined during the first call. Applications shall again be filed via the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s electronic system.
Even though the deadline for filing applications does not end until 13 September 2021, considering our experience with previous calls we recommend submitting applications sufficiently in advance before the deadline to avoid any possible technical problems caused by system overloads in the last days before the call’s closure.