INPS

The regulations on advance payments, which are part of the measures adopted by the Government in response to the Covid-19 emergency, apply to claims submitted from 18 June 2020 for the Ordinary Wage Compensation Fund, the Wage Compensation Fund in derogation, and Ordinary Solidarity Fund Allowances, as referred to in Decree Law no. 18/2020 (converted into Law no. 27/2020), as amended by Decree Law no. 34/2020 and Decree Law no. 52/2020.

Moreover, with regard to the Wage Compensation Fund in derogation, access to the benefit may only be granted if the claims are submitted directly to INPS. Also from 18 June 2020, employers who have already been authorised to receive any of the benefits referred to in Article 22 of Decree Law no. 18/2020 by the competent region or by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, for a total period of nine weeks, regardless of whether or not they have received the benefit for the entire duration of the authorised period, may apply directly to INPS for benefits for subsequent periods up to a maximum duration of 14 weeks.

INPS pays the advance directly to the workers that the company, when submitting the claim for the Ordinary Wage Compensation Fund, the Wage Compensation Fund in derogation or for Ordinary Allowances, indicated as potential beneficiaries of income support payments for direct payment in the claimed period.

Employers applying for advance income support payments with direct payment must submit the claim within 15 days of the start of the period of suspension or reduction of work.

INPS shall arrange payment of the advance within 15 days of receipt of the claim. The sum of the advance is equal to 40% of the authorised hours for the entire period covered by the claimed and approved income support payment.

For payment of the remaining balance, employers must send INPS the SR41 form, in the ordinary manner and with all the data needed for the payment of the balance of the income support payment, by the end of the month following the date on which the authorised income support payment ended or within 30 days of the date on which the concessionary measure was approved, whichever is later.

Regarding the first application, the deadlines referred to in the previous paragraph are in any case postponed to the 30th day following the entry into force of Decree Law 52/2020, i.e. to 17 July, if the latter date is later than the date referred to in the first period (30 days after the benefit payment is approved).

Claims for the Ordinary Wage Compensation Fund, the Wage Compensation Fund in derogation, and for the direct payment of Ordinary Allowances, if an advance payment is being claimed, must be submitted by the employer within 15 days of the start date of the period of suspension or reduction of work.

During the first application phase, if the period of suspension or reduction started before 18 June 2020, the claim must, in any case, be submitted by the 15th day following said date, i.e. by 3 July 2020.

The claim must be submitted exclusively by telematic means, including if using an authorised intermediary, via the usual channels provided for the income support payment being applied for.

More specifically, claims for the Ordinary Wage Compensation Fund must be submitted via the “Services for companies and consultants" > "Ordinary Wage Compensation Fund and Solidarity Funds" > "Ordinary Wage Compensation Fund” pathway.

For the Wage Compensation Fund in derogation, claims must also be submitted via the “Services for companies and consultants" > "Ordinary Wage Compensation Fund and Solidarity Funds” pathway, by selecting the "INPS Wage Compensation Fund in derogation” option.

Claims for the Ordinary Allowance must be submitted through the “Services for companies and consultants" > "Ordinary Wage Compensation Fund and Solidarity Funds” pathway, by selecting the "Solidarity Funds” option.

If direct payment by INPS is claimed using the above mentioned claim procedures, it will be possible to ask for a 40% advance payment at the same time by selecting the appropriate option that will be automatically set to "Yes". Consequently, if it has been decided that an advance payment is not needed, the opt-out option must be expressly indicated.

After selecting the "Yes" option, you will be required to fill in the following data in the "Claim advance 40%" service:

• tax codes of workers to receive the income support payments;
• IBANs of the workers concerned;
• hours of Wage Compensation Fund or Ordinary Allowance for each individual worker. The permitted values are from 1-23500. The last two digits of the number should be interpreted as decimal values of the unit and thus represent minutes expressed in hundredths (half an hour=50, one hour=100). For example, to enter a value of 10 hours and 30 minutes, you will need to enter the figure 1050 (IMPORTANT: the number of hours of reduction/suspension indicated for each individual worker is a presumptive figure and relates to the entire period concerned. The number of hours must therefore be indicated in full and the 40% proportion is then calculated by the service).

The “Claim advance 40%” service is accessible both within the procedures for claiming the Extraordinary Wage Compensation Fund and the Ordinary Solidarity Fund Allowances, via a special link (soon to be added also for the Ordinary Wage Compensation Fund), and independently through the " Claim advance 40%” service.