COVID wage supplement

Overview

The following information serves as a guide. For an accurate or updated source of information kindly refer to DIER or Malta Enterprise.

There are two types of supplements companies are eligible for based on their NACE (business activity). The final/actual supplement amount will be provided by Malta Enterprise per employee, so not all employees may be eligible, or eligible for the full amount.

Contents

1. Permissions
2. Amounts
3. Instructions to set up the COVID Wage Supplement (CWS)
4. Payslip calculations
5. Payslip document
6. Social Security, Maternity Leave Fund, Government Bonuses
7. FSS documents
8. Payroll Reports
9. Employees who do not pay NI

Permissions

You need to have 'Manage Payroll' permission to add the COVID wage supplement (hereon referred to as CWS) to a payroll.

Amounts

The full amounts are as follows:

1. COVID Wage Supplement covering full week (NACEs)
2. COVID Wage Supplement covering partial week  (NACEs)

1. Covering full week

• Full timers entitled to a monthly salary of €800
• Part timers entitled to a monthly salary of €500 

2. Covering partial week

Malta based companies

• Full timers entitled to one day’s salary per week, equivalent to €160 per month
• Part timers entitled to one day’s salary per week, equivalent to €100 per month  

Gozo based companies

• Full timers entitled to one day’s salary per week, equivalent to €320 per month
• Part timers entitled to one day’s salary per week, equivalent to €200 per month  

Instructions to set up the COVID Wage Supplement (CWS)

1. Go to the Payroll section
2. Click on Create Payroll (or in the case of a pre-existing unlocked payrolls, click the Edit icon on the relevant payroll in which you would like to apply the CWS): 
   
   
   
   
3. Enable the toggle "Grant COVID Wage Supplement" and fill out the relevant information
   1. SSC period dates are the dates which cover the respective CWS
   2. Full time CWS is the amount that will be given to employees on a full time job schedule
   3. Part time CWS is the amount that will be given to employees on a part time job schedule

Once the above is set up, and employees are added to the payroll, the COVID Wage Supplement will appear in each payslip automatically. Please note: These settings can be set up after the payroll has been opened. If the payslip has already been calculated, you will need to refresh the payslips (individually or in bulk) in order for the CWS to show in the payslip.

For every COVID Wage Supplement added to the payslip you will also see another negative Adjustment to cancel this amount out. The reason for this is that the Adjustment is considered as part of the Basic and the amount as such is not added to the Gross.

To view all the Supplements given, in bulk:

1. Go to the relevant payrollhttps://test.talexiohr.com/payroll/4864
2. Go to Adjustments tab
3. Click on the COVID Wage Supplement and Adjustment

Note: If the COVID Wage Supplement amount is updated, please note that the Adjustment amount in the negative needs to tally also.

Payslip calculations

• For Payroll purposes this income will be added to any income received by the employee during the pay period and tax and social security contributions (including Maternity) will be calculated in the standard method.
• All COVID Wage Supplements are taxable (i.e. Pre Tax, and will show as such on the payslip)
• For employees whose equivalent monthly basic salary is less than the COVID Wage Supplement value, their Basic Pay will now “increase” to the value of the supplement.
• Full time will be considered as those who work 40hours/week or are on Full time reduced hours. Part time will be considered as those who work less hours or are on an irregular/casual basis.
• If the employee is over 65 years of age and therefore is receiving another allowance, you will get a warning to confirm whether the employee should get the Supplement or not
• If the Start date of when the Supplement should apply falls within a month where payroll was already finalised, the Supplement owed to the employee will automatically show in the next month's payslip.

Payslip document

• The supplement will be added to the payslip as an adjustment specifically labelled as COVID Wage Supplement
• The SSC number of Mondays will still show as usual on the payslip, except for those weeks when there is unpaid leave.

Social Security, Maternity Leave Fund, Government Bonuses

• Same SSC, MLF and Tax applies for the income received as Basic. That is the Supplement + any top up provided by the employer
• Government bonuses are given in full except when there is unpaid leave - regardless of whether the employee is receiving any additional Government benefits.

FSS documents

• FS5 - in box D5, the SSC will include the employer + employee SSC less the 10% SSC that is already paid for. Ex. if supplement is 800 euro, employer ssc is 80 euro and employee ssc is 80 euro, box D5 will only include 80 euro. This information then will affect the value shown in D6.
• FS3 and FS7 - these forms will be updated by CFR. Current ones on the system are the ones available on the CFR website.

Payroll Reports

• The SSC amounts reported in the payroll reports will be the full amounts, that is, including the 10% NI that is already paid by the Government. This means that there will be a discrepancy between the Payroll reports and the FS5. 

Employees who do not pay NI

• In the case of employees who do not pay NI (students, pensioners, etc.), it is important that the 'Don't retain CWS SSC' tick box in the Payroll section in the individual employee's details is selected to ensure that such employees' FS documents do not result in a negative SSC figure.