Employment bonus for new jobs – application as of July 1st 2017 - consider 30-day application period and requisite evidence

LBG-Summary: Starting on July 1st 2017, companies are entitled to apply for a refund of 50% of non-wage labor costs (e.g. employer social security contribution) for each newly created job over a period of up to three years. The funding is accessible to companies regardless of their size or the business sector in which they operate provided that their headquarters or permanent establishment is located in Austria. The public financing bank Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) is responsible for handling the application and granting of funding. You can find all details to "employment bonus" in our LBG information from 26/07/2017: Employment bonus from 01.07.2017.

Practical hints:

• Eligibility: Each additional employee must be "eligible". We recommend obtaining an electronic data extract from the social insurance carrier.
• Data Protection: A "declaration of consent" from each employee eligible for funding must be submitted for the transfer of personal data to the "aws".  We recommend to include this "declaration of consent" already in the contract of employment. 
• Confirmation by tax consultants or auditors: The funding guidelines stipulate that a tax consultant or auditor must confirm specific eligibility criteria in the "funding application" as well as in the subsequent "later registration of further employees" and specific criteria for the twelve-month later following "funding account". It is not merely a "formal rule", but a carefully performed and documented expert performance. Thus the legislature shifts the responsibility for the correctness of the information in the "funding application" and the associated professional work to the entrepreneur as well as to the confirming tax consultant or auditor and would like to protect himself against abusive funding applications.

Contact & Advise: Our experts in the consulting field “payroll accounting, income tax, social security, labour law” will be pleased to advise you in your individual situation. Please contact our consultants either directly at LBG at our 30 locations in Austria (www.lbg.at) or email us welcome@lbg.at – we will connect you with the right expert at LBG who is very familiar with your concerns.