Hospitality entrepreneur, make use of the NOW scheme

MUnder the new temporary Emergency Bridging Measure for Employment (NOW), as an employer, you can apply to the UWV for a subsidy to continue paying the wages of your employees with both permanent and flexible contracts. The employees concerned must, however, be subject to compulsory social insurance contributions in the Netherlands. This scheme replaces the short-time working scheme.

How do I apply for NOW?

You submit the application via uwv.nlThe NOW provides for a contribution towards wage costs over the months March, April and May 2020This does not have to be the period with the largest drop in turnover. Therefore, you can indicate over which quarterly period you wish to calculate the expected drop in turnover: March-April-May 2020, April-May-June 2020, or May-June-July 2020. No eHerkenning or other form of authentication and authorization is required for this application; you apply using your payroll tax number.

What are the conditions?

To make use of the emergency measure, the following conditions apply to you as an employer:

• You expect or have experienced at least a 20% loss of revenue since March 1, 2020.
• You may not apply for dismissal of your employees for economic reasons during the period for which you receive the allowance.
• You have an obligation to make every effort to continue paying all employees' wages as usual.

When calculating the advance payment, UWV considers:

• the wage costs for January 2020 according to your statement to the Tax and Customs Administration (total wage sum);
• the expected percentage of revenue loss that you stated in your NOW application.

UWV multiplies the total wage bill by the percentage of the expected loss of turnover. We multiply this amount by a factor of 1.3 for additional costs and charges, such as employer contributions, pension contributions, and holiday pay. The compensation is 90% of this amount. The total advance payment is 80% of the compensation. The total advance payment is paid monthly, in three installments. UWV will transfer the first payment to you within four weeks.

To ask?

Call 088-8982004
Do you have any other questions or need more information about government (emergency) schemes during the corona crisis? Please contact Jorrit Gall or Paulien Frank from Werk in Zicht.

Further important information:

• A separate application must be submitted for each payroll tax number.
• The NOW allowance also covers wage costs for employees for whom you have no obligation to continue paying wages, such as employees with on-call contracts. In the case of temporary agency workers, this applies provided they are employed by the temporary employment agency. This agency can submit a NOW application itself.
  for these employees. This also applies to payroll employers. This way, these companies can also use this period
  to bridge the gap without laying off staff.
• In principle, a director-major shareholder is not eligible for compensation.
• The allowances you pay to interns and students following a work-based learning pathway also count towards the calculation of the NOW compensation.
• If your company has since been declared bankrupt, you can no longer make use of the NOW compensation.
• The total wage bill of sick employees for whom there is an obligation to pay wages is also included.
• A decision will be made before June 1, 2020, on whether and under what conditions the emergency measure will be extended.
• The scheme also applies to start-up entrepreneurs, provided that at least one month's turnover has already been generated prior to March 1, 2020.
• You may lend your employees to another employer. If this is done as a form of assistance without a profit motive (at most at wage costs and a small surcharge), this is considered collegial lending and has no consequences for the NOW application.
• Subsequently, the actual decrease in turnover and the actual wage bill are definitively determined, and any additional payment or recovery takes place.