The ministers of Social Affairs and Employment and Economic Affairs announced that the pandemic in the Netherlands will continue for some time and that is why the government has decided to extend the aid measures and to adapt where needed.
It concerns the following measures:
a. NOW 2.0
b. TOZO 2
c. Fixed Cost Allowance for SMEs
d. Extention of deferral of taxes
The measures as of 1 June 2020:
Ad a. NOW 2.0
NOW will continue in its current form for the next three months:
a. but in addition, the subsidy will be increased by not raising the wage base for the calculation of NOW by 30% but by 40%;
b. for NOW 2.0, the fine and the reduction of the NOW subsidy to 100% will lapse if employees are made redundant for economic reasons. When more than 20 redundancies per company, prior consultation with the unions is required;
c. the auditor's report required for the determination of the subsidy will only be necessary for companies that have received an advance payment of € 100,000.00 or more or if the determined subsidy is more than € 125,000.00. An online calculation tool will be made available by the government to help companies to get insight on this issue;
d. For companies that do not need an auditor's report, but have received an advance payment of more than € 20,000.00 or the determined subsidy of more than € 25,000.00, their accounts must be kept in order and may be required by the tax authorities to, for example, accounting office to provide a statement confirming the magnitude of the decrease in sales. The tax authorities will also request this statement in case of deferral of payment in special circumstances.
e. as soon as the company knows that there will be no drop in turnover or no longer meets the conditions for NOW (active obligation to provide information), it is mandatory to report this, so that NOW subsidy can be stopped immediately for this company;
f. The first NOW measure can still be applied for until June 5 instead of May 31, 2020.
Additional conditions for NOW 2.0:
In order to be eligible for a subsidy, the company operated with a BV or NV may not distribute bonuses or profits to their shareholder (s) and / or director in 2020 or buy back own shares;
Companies should encourage their employees in training or to retraining themselves to adapt to the new economic situation. Employers have to make a statement about this. To help employers and employees in this respect, the government is allocating 50 million euros for “the NL learns through crisis program”, where people can follow online training and development advice free of charge from July.
Ad b. Tozo 2
The Tozo will also be continued and will be available for the period of 1 June to 31 August 2020. It may differ per municipality when the application can be submitted.
Like the Tozo 1, the "Tozo 2" has relaxed conditions compared to the regular assistance for the self-employed, on which the scheme is based:
a. There is no capital test;
b. The viability of the company is not considered;
c. The cost-sharing standard is not applied.
The difference between Tozo 1 and Tozo 2 is that Tozo 2 has a partner income test for living allowance. This was not the case with Tozo 1. Therefore if you exceed the social minimum with the partner's income, you are not entitled to Tozo 2.
It is important that Tozo 2 is only paid out in the months of June to August. This means that for example if you opted for Tozo 1 for the months April to June, you will not receive 3 more months for Tozo 2, but only for the months of July and August.
It is also still possible to apply for a Tozo loan of up to € 10,157.00 from your municipality.
We would like to remind you once again that you have an active information obligation towards the Tozo 1 or 2. Therefore, do not forget to inform the municipality yourself that something has changed in your business operations that affects the conditions for the Tozo benefit.
Ad c. Fixed Cost Allowance for SMEs
It has been announced by the Minister of Economic Affairs to support companies that were eligible for the TOGS once again in the costs of their company by providing a further compensation of a maximum of € 20,000.00. The exact details and conditions will be announced in mid-June 2020.
Ad d. Extention of deferral of taxes
Entrepreneurs may request deferment of payment until 1 September. It is important that the money remain in the company that is not paid with the postponement. That is why, as with NOW 2.0, there can be no purchase own shares, bonuses and profit distribution.
It is not yet clear whether entrepreneurs who already have a 3-month extension of payment will have to apply for another extension if they want this extension until 1 September 2020.