COVID – 19 – Teleworking Grant Scheme

On the 16th March 2020, Malta Enterprise issued new Guidelines under the Business Development and Continuity Scheme to facilitate the possibility for employers to provide teleworking arrangements to their employees who can work remotely from their residence. The purpose of such a scheme is to support employers to invest in technology that will enable teleworking and […]

Written By Stephen Balzan

On March 19, 2020
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On the 16th March 2020, Malta Enterprise issued new Guidelines under the Business Development and Continuity Scheme to facilitate the possibility for employers to provide teleworking arrangements to their employees who can work remotely from their residence. The purpose of such a scheme is to support employers to invest in technology that will enable teleworking and to partially cover the costs of such teleworking solutions.

The call is open to all undertakings irrespective of size and sector. The support will be given to employers who incur eligible telework expenses pursuant to a telework agreement. The aid will only be considered if the role of the employee can be addressed through teleworking and when a formal teleworking agreement is in place and connects to the workplace via a VPN (or similar) solution.

The grant is limited up to €500 per teleworking agreement and €4,000 per undertaking and is in the form of a cash grant.

The grant will amount to 45% of the eligible cost which are incurred after the 1st of March 2020. The following constitute eligible costs

a) Purchasing and/or leasing of computer hardware (included operating systems) which are considered portable including installation and setting up of connectivity software;

b) Communication solutions (hardware and software) that allows different users to connect to their place of work (VPN, Point-to-point connection etc.)

In order for an undertaking to benefit from such a grant, an application form has to be submitted to Malta Enterprise by not later than 30th March 2020.  The application and below documentation should be submitted by email on [email protected].  As part of the application, the applicant will be required to provide the following: 

  1. A signed Teleworking Agreement commencing not earlier than 1st March 2020
  2. A declaration that no previous teleworking arrangement was in place in the last 12 months
  3. A short explanation on how the teleworking arrangement will function explaining how employees will have access to company data (ex. through VPN or Cloud Services).

Once the application is approved, the Corporation shall issue a letter of approval indicating the value of aid awarded. The undertaking will have to provide and install the equipment at the teleworker’s residence within two (2) weeks from the approval letter. The beneficiary shall submit monthly report on the teleworking activity of the employee for the three (3) months following the approval.

Applicants should note that the de minimis regulation limits the total support per single undertaking to €200,000 undertaking over a period of three (3) rolling fiscal years, and to €100,000 for undertakings engaged in Road Freight Transport.  Any single undertaking may apply for the maximum support as allowed by the Regulation.  To this effect, the applicant needs to consider the total de minimis aid awarded to the single undertaking through other schemes (even if these are not administered by Malta Enterprise).  

How can we help?  

 

For further information, please contact us on [email protected]. ACT can help you understand the changes to the income tax, accounting, corporate and VAT rules and how these can impact your business.   

 

Apart from its offices in St. Julian’s Malta, ACT operates from a second office in Gozo, which is situated in the capital city of Victoria.  For an appointment in our Gozo office, please call on +356 21378672 or send us an email on [email protected].