Coronavirus: New arrangements

In order to help entrepreneurs affected by the corona crisis out of the fire, the government has drawn up a few new regulations. Think of short-time working or tax deferrals. Below are the possibilities.

Reduced working hours

Companies that have been severely affected by the impact of the coronavirus can, under certain circumstances, invoke the short-time working scheme. This allows companies that are entitled to the scheme to have staff work fewer hours. The state pays the employer for the hours not worked, who can then continue to pay his personnel. The employees remain in service, but in that period they do invoke their rights under the Unemployment Insurance Act (Ww). 

A different scheme applies to self-employed persons. They can apply for an income supplement or loan from their municipality of residence on the basis of the Besluit bijstandverlening zelfstandigen (Bbz) (Decree on assistance for the self-employed). Please take into account that there is a handling period. You can call in the help of Ondernemersklankbord (Entrepreneurial Sounding Board) in this process. See the KVK website for more information.

In trouble because of corona?

From Monday 16 March, the rules for the Borgstelling MKB-kredieten (BMKB) have been relaxed. The measures allow SMEs to borrow money from the bank under more favourable conditions, for example to be able to pay bills and clear payment arrears. In this way, the government wants to prevent businesses affected by the consequences of the coronavirus from encountering liquidity problems. With this measure, the government is partly a guarantor for companies that want to take out a loan, but are unable to offer the financier, especially banks, enough security. You can apply for the scheme through an accredited financier, usually your bank. The accredited financiers are listed on the RVO website.

Payment arrears

You can request the Tax and Customs Administration to postpone payment. This may concern your income tax, corporation tax, turnover tax and wage tax. However, the request must be justified in writing before collection is halted. If you pay your tax too late in the coming months, the Belastingdienst will not issue a default penalty. Attention: The Belastingdienst processes the applications manually. The processing time may therefore increase due to the large number of applications.

And what else?

According to the government, the Dutch economy is in good enough shape to absorb the negative consequences of the virus. The situation is constantly being evaluated. An investment fund of 25 billion euros is being set up from the EU. The intention is that the money will be used, among other things, to assist SMEs.

For more information visit kvk.nl