"The aid must finally reach the companies"

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Crisis Manager Scholz, Chancellor Merkel

Photo: Florian Gaertner / photothek.net / imago images / photothek

The criticism from the economy of the sluggish implementation and too much bureaucracy with the state Corona aid does not stop.

Crafts president Hans Peter Wollseifer told the dpa news agency: "The aids that have been widely advertised as bazooka aid must finally arrive at the companies and must not be slowed down by bureaucracy."

Wollseifer said: “If it were only a matter of shoving frustration over the chaos of rules, that would be annoying, but not threatening.

But this has long since ceased to be just frustrating, it has threatened the very existence of many of our companies. "At the beginning of the pandemic in March, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke of a" bazooka "when the pandemic began in March.

The term "bazooka" stands for an almost unlimited financial "firepower".

The background to the criticism from the economy is on the one hand the delay in the payment of the regular November aid, which is subsidies for companies.

The payout via the countries only started on Tuesday.

On the other hand, there is criticism of the conditions for the bridging aid.

In contrast to the November and December aid, revenue losses are not reimbursed, but operational fixed costs.

Tax advisors expect wave of reclaims

Germany's tax advisors also criticize the regulations.

The Association of Tax Advisors complains that there is a great deal of correction work involved in applications for state bridging aid in the corona crisis.

"I assume that because of the new fixed costs rule, 80 percent to 90 percent of all applications for bridging aid will have to be tackled again," said Association President Harald Elster of the newspaper "Welt".

As a result, many companies would either have to repay aid already paid or they would receive less money than they originally thought.

Elster requested a longer application period in order to revise the applications already made.

"We need to extend the deadline to February 28," he said.

So far it ends on January 31st.

Only recently, after consultation with the EU Commission, the Federal Ministry of Economics had made it clear that bridging aid may only be a contribution to the uncovered fixed costs.

Regulations for bridging aid II have been adapted due to EU state aid law.

According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, "uncovered fixed costs" are a prerequisite for the granting of subsidies - that is, for costs that a company cannot cover with the income it still has.

The Federal Association of Liberal Professions, among others, recently criticized the fact that a regulation restricting uncovered fixed costs in the calculation of the bridging aid had only been included afterwards.

This means that a number of applications have at least slipped into the gray area, repayments are to be feared.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the black-red coalition has decided on comprehensive aid programs to contain the consequences of the pandemic for companies and jobs.

But with the November and December aid and the bridging aid, the federal government has created a complex system that many people find difficult to understand.

Most recently, there had been delays in paying out the November aid.

According to Elster, the aid programs now take up a considerable part of the work of tax advisors.

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beb / dpa