Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: Gernot Blümel

  • €1,000 per month for freelance artists in Austria

    €1,000 per month for freelance artists in Austria

    The €90 million fund will be available for a maximum of six months and will enable self-employed artists to receive €1,000 per month.  

    “We are setting up a bridging fund for self-employed artists in the amount of €90 million to supplement existing measures in the arts and culture sector, with planned payments of €1,000 per month”, said Finance Minister Gernot Blümel at a press conference on the Federal Government’s culture package.

    Some measures have already been implemented in the arts and culture sector.

    These measures include bolstering the artists’ social insurance fund by €5 million, adapting the hardship fund by extending the application period from three to six months, increasing the minimum payment to €500 and offering a comeback bonus of €500 per month.

    In addition, an umbrella association package worth up to €700 million plus retroactive insurance of €25 million have already been put together for the film industry.

  • €1 billion of special-purpose grants for Austrian municipalities

    €1 billion of special-purpose grants for Austrian municipalities

    The Federal Government of Austria is providing municipalities with €1 billion in the form of special-purpose grants. Community investments are supported with up to 50% funding.

    The €1 billion municipal package supports investments by up to 50% and includes the construction and renovation of kindergartens, schools, retirement homes and sports facilities, as well as investment in public transport, energy saving measures, the construction of renewable energy production facilities and the expansion of the broadband network.

    Additionally, it covers renovations, such as of churches and museums. It will run until 31 December 2021. The allocation of funds will be based partly on the graduated population key and partly on the number of inhabitants.

    For example, the municipality of Sillian, which has about 2,000 inhabitants, can receive around €200,000 while the city of Graz can get up to €40.5 million.

    ”We intend to provide federal states and municipalities with the necessary funds to create economic incentives. That’s why we have launched this municipal package. It has a value of €1 billion in order to support both existing and future investments”, said Finance Minister Gernot Blümel.

  • Short-time working funds increased to €12 billion in Austria

    Short-time working funds increased to €12 billion in Austria

    Austrian Finance Minister Blümel increased funds for short-time working to €12 billion. Financial police will carry out priority checks to detect fraudulent use of funds.

    ”With coronavirus short-time working, we have created a model that is unique in Europe to keep unemployment as low as possible at a difficult time. Especially in the current phase, it is important to be able to resume operations with well-trained, long-standing employees. Short-time working is a sensible measure to get through the crisis. We are therefore increasing funds for short-time working, which have already amounted to € 10 billion, to a total of € 12 billion. Especially at the present moment, it makes sense to implement a safety buffer to protect jobs”, said Finance Minister Gernot Blümel in a press conference.

    The decline in the number of applications for short-time working shows that companies are now seeing less need for it, which is an important sign that the economy is rapidly recovering.

    Nevertheless, funds are being increased, since with the current volume of applications, any new applications could not otherwise be processed.

    Also, almost 5,000 control notifications have been sent to the AMS and 846 to the Construction Workers’ Annual Leave and Severance Pay Fund.

  • Austrian government, €500 million package for restaurants and pubs

    Austrian government, €500 million package for restaurants and pubs

    The Austrian federal government presented a package worth €500 million for restaurants and pubs, a press release show.

    “The catering industry has been particularly hard hit by the corona crisis and therefore needs special measures. We have put together a package of tax relief on the one hand, and support and incentives on the other”, said Finance Minister Blümel.

    What the package includes

    The package includes a reduction of tax on non-alcoholic beverages to 10% until the end of 2020. This corresponds to relief of around €200 million. Simplification and relief through higher lump sums was also announced. The lump-sum limit will be increased from €255,000 to €400,000. By increasing the mobility lump sum from 2% to 4% in municipalities with up to 10,000 inhabitants, and to 6% in municipalities with up to 5,000 inhabitants, more money is made available for rural restaurants and pubs.

    Further, the maximum limit for tax-free meal vouchers has been raised from €4.4 to €8, the deductibility of business meals in inns increased from 50% to 75% by raising the applicable rate, and the tax on sparkling wine has been abolished.

    “Two brief illustrations: a village inn with a turnover of €115,000 per year currently pays €3,670 in taxes, but with these measures, it will pay only €871. Another example: an inn with an annual turnover of €160,000 currently pays taxes of €6,260 but will only pay €2,390 in future” said Finance Minister Blümel.

    The fixed cost subsidy details and changes were presented last week, so that urgently needed monies could reach companies – and especially local landlords – as quickly as possible.

  • Fixed cost subsidies will be available this year for Austrian businesses

    Fixed cost subsidies will be available this year for Austrian businesses

    Austrian Finance Minister Gernot Blümel said in a press conference that ”Fixed cost subsidies will be available this year. Applications possible from 20th May”.

    “We have already achieved a great deal with the €38 bn protective package we have extended over the Austrian economy. Much remains to be done, but a total of around €19 bn in funding has been committed so far. There is a €15 bn corona relief fund, which is processed via COFAG and includes two relief mechanisms. On the one hand, there are loans, which are guaranteed by the state and granted through the banks”, said Finance Minister Gernot Blümel.

    COFAG has provided around €1 bn in guarantees by now and Austria is one of only four EU countries to offer 100% guarantees.

    Advance payment of the fixed cost subsidy

    Additionally to the state guarantees, the fund provides a second relief mechanism in the form of grants to particularly hard-hit companies. These grants cover fixed costs and perishable goods.

    The subsidy is staggered and, depending on the extent of the loss, up to 75 % of fixed costs and perishable goods can be reimbursed. It is now also possible to pay this subsidy in advance.

    Applications can be submitted on FinanzOnline from 20th May. The finance office checks plausibility in an automated process before COFAG conducts the final checks and approves the payment.