The federal and state governments in Hesse have paid out almost 18 billion euros to companies to help them get through the corona pandemic. Many companies were grateful for this help. But now some are saying: Please give your money back!
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03:18 Min.|03.09.24|Ursula Mayer
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The Hessian startup Connfair has received 335,000 euros in Corona aid. Money that the young software company from Weiterstadt could put to good use, for example to pay the wages of its 14 employees, says Arne Schäufele, one of the founders. A few weeks ago, however, the Giessen regional council informed them that they would have to pay back 180,000 euros of this – at least.
The Connfair management team is preparing for the fact that it may even have to return all the aid. “We have to set aside a lot of money in the company for this and are therefore over-indebted,” says 37-year-old Schäufele, who comes from Fürth in the Odenwald. “In the end, we had no choice but to file for bankruptcy a month ago.”
93 million euros have been reclaimed so far
The federal and state governments launched the aid in 2020. It was intended to help companies compensate for sales losses caused by the pandemic and continue to be able to cover all expenses.
However, the companies only received the aid provisionally, based on their own estimates and applications. Therefore, they now have to prepare a final invoice retrospectively. This will determine whether and how much money will be returned. Specifically, the bridging aid, the November and December aid must be accounted for.
The Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs says that a total of 68,000 invoices are expected, of which around 49,000 have already been received. So far, almost one in three companies (32 percent) have had to repay Corona aid. The Hessian regional councils are dealing with the processing of the final invoices. And at the Giessen regional council alone, the repayment claims so far amount to a total of 93 million euros.
In total, the federal and state governments paid out almost 18 billion euros to companies.
Entrepreneur: “We would have liked to have known this directly”
Few companies want to talk about these repayments as openly as the company Connfair. However, the startup’s case is also rather unusual. Connfair offers software that allows participants to enter events via an app. It also allows you to check at any time how many people are there and where most of them are.
When the Corona aid came about, Connfair was just about to bring the software to market. As a result, the company has not yet had any significant sales. In this respect, no loss of sales was to be expected due to the pandemic compared to the previous year – which was precisely the basic prerequisite for the aid.
Because the Corona crisis still caused difficulties for Connfair, for example due to the months-long ban on events, the company applied for aid anyway and received it. Rightly so, as co-founder Schäufele believes: “If that had not been the case, we would have liked to have known about it straight away.” Because then the company would have applied for short-time work instead, for example.
In many cases the money has already been invested
According to the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs, cases are occurring much more frequently: Companies have to pay back Corona aid because they overestimated the loss of sales due to the pandemic in advance. This is a problem for many cafés, restaurants and hotels because they have only just gotten through the pandemic, says the hotel and catering association Dehoga Hessen.
The companies urgently needed the aid to pay their employees’ wages and to invest in masks, disinfectants and online shops, explains Dehoga Managing Director Oliver Kasties: “Now this money has been invested and that makes it difficult to repay the Corona aid.” The association therefore fears that in the long term one in ten companies will close.
“These business closures are likely to affect smaller companies in particular,” adds Hartmut Ruppricht, President of the Hesse Chamber of Tax Consultants: “These are delayed bankruptcies because companies initially overestimated the aid.”
Another problem, according to Ruppricht, is that the companies submitted the applications in compliance with the rules that were in force at the time. But these rules have changed in part over time, which is another reason why Corona aid must be repaid. According to Ruppricht, the companies then have at least six months to do this and they can also pay it off in installments, for example.
The deadline expires at the end of September
If companies have received Corona aid, they must submit their final invoices by the end of September at the latest. Otherwise, they must pay back all the money. According to the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs, around 19,000 invoices are still missing.
“Many of these cases may be related to the fact that tax consultants have submitted applications for aid on behalf of companies, but apparently under false pretenses,” says the President of the Chamber of Tax Consultants Ruppricht. If such a suspicion is confirmed, the tax consultants would have to resign from their mandate. In these cases, no more final invoices would be issued.
The Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office in Hesse is currently conducting two major investigations into suspected subsidy fraud. The investigations are directed not only against entrepreneurs, but also against their tax advisors. One is from the Groß-Gerau district, two others from central Hesse. The extensive investigations are not yet complete.
Broadcast: hr-iNFO, 03.09.24, 07:19 a.m.
Source: hessenschau.de
