The billing deadlines for Corona emergency aid recipients were extended again and again in 2020. In principle, everyone who had received the emergency aid in 2020 had to settle it quickly after the end of the reference period, from July 2020, without being asked, and to pay back the surplus long ago. However, to a significant extent this had not happened. Therefore, the federal states set accounting deadlines that they themselves or, if requested, their tax advisors had to adhere to. The tax advisor associations then negotiated with the state governments in 2022 and 2023 to obtain a final extension deadline for their existing orders due to their partial overload in the offices at the time, with the tax return deadlines for companies and the self-employed for 2021 being extended due to Corona as of August 31, 2023. Back then in 2023, you received an extension, which only applied to tax advisor billing orders, until October 31, 2023.
Last final billing deadline set for September 30, 2024
However, this was probably not enough for all tax consultants’ offices if they were entrusted with the billing of emergency aid by clients, because the associations asked the states for a further – now very last – billing period, and received this. If tax advisor offices had applied for this final extension of time for themselves or their clients by spring 2024, they will have until September 30, 2024 at the latest for the final statements.
Many emergency aid payments have still not been accounted for
This final billing deadline now expires on September 30, 2024.
This is the final deadline, after numerous extensions of deadlines for the aid recipients, in order to still be able to fulfill their obligations of accounting for their actually justified need for help back in 2020 and thus also have the chance to only receive the mathematical surplus share between the emergency aid received and the actual one You only have to pay back if you need help, and not 100% of the help plus interest.
As is well known, the legitimate need was the operational liquidity bottleneck in the period from April to June 2020, i.e. the difference delta between the income generated on the one hand, and operational ongoing, non-suspendable fixed expenses such as operational business space/shop/office rents, operational leasing rates, software fees, etc. on the other hand . Expenses such as personnel costs (short-time work had to be applied for back then), purchases of capital goods for the company, etc., or even private needs such as health insurance contributions, living costs, even private apartment rents were not eligible – reserves had to be used for this or the former ALG II had to be applied for .
Even after the last calls this summer 2024 to tens of thousands of benefit recipients at the time to finally be billed by September 30th, 2024, it was found in the federal states that tens of thousands of companies and self-employed people still had not been billed as of September 24th, 2024 have.
The reasons why this does not happen are incomprehensible. Because the accounting is simple (compilation of the net revenues achieved in the relevant period, compilation of legitimate operational fixed costs that were debited and paid during the period, the difference was the actual requirement, so the surplus can be easily determined), and little effort is required the bank statements of the company business checking account from April to June 2020 or the financial accounting, especially since there has now been over 4 years of time for this. You didn’t need a tax advisor for this, because anyone could and can easily make these applications and statements themselves.
The attempt to “dive in” and ignore it will definitely not be of any use, as the law firm’s practice with restart aid has shown. The aid that was then received without justification or the advances that were paid out in excess at the time, above the actual need, must be completely recovered from the federal states because this is tax money and justice also requires this for those who had settled and paid back correctly and quickly at an early stage.
100 % Obligation to repay plus high interest if the statement is not received by September 30, 2024
All those whose tax advisors (or themselves) have not uploaded and submitted their statement to their country’s investment bank by Monday, September 30, 2024 at the latest, will subsequently receive notices of withdrawal of the provisional approvals at that time, along with a request to repay 100% of the emergency aid received in 2020 received, which will then be posted in your Elster account when you apply at the time and the deadlines will then be formally announced.
These repayment demands are levied with 0.5% interest per month from receipt of payment back in March or April 2020. This interest alone can easily amount to a high 4-digit amount after just 4.5 years.
These emergency aid amounts, which are then not entitled, can be repaid within 1 month.
Conclusion
Anyone who has not yet properly accounted for the aid advances they received at the time, as well as tax advisors’ offices who may not have completed their mandates for this, are therefore strongly advised to do the accounting over the weekend now still needs to be created and uploaded. Otherwise, 100% repayment plus high interest will have to be expected, which will then also be collected through enforcement measures.
Lawyer and specialist in administrative law Iris Schuback from Hamburg
Legal tip status: September 28, 2024
