Wrongly received: the self-employed return more than 500 million euros in immediate crown aid

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reHelp should go quickly and without bureaucracy, in March, to hairdressers, photographers or physical trainers. Millions of freelancers and small business owners no longer had an overnight income due to crown restrictions. Monthly charges, for example, rent and insurance, were maintained.

Often the money was in the account after a few days. There were up to 9,000 euros for companies with up to five employees and up to 15,000 euros for those with up to ten employees. These sums were made available by the federal government, most federal states added a little more, or even the largest companies with more employees paid a five-figure state subsidy.

But not all freelancers or small business owners can expect the windfall for long. Some of them soon suspected that they might have been held criminally liable for subsidy fraud because they had received too much money, or because they had no rights from the start. In July, North Rhine-Westphalia was one of the first to remind recipients of emergency aid that “too much money paid must be reimbursed to the main state treasury.”

The refund amount will increase

As of September 30, more than 560 million euros in emergency aid had already been returned, as shown by a survey by WELT AM SONNTAG among federal states. In first place are North Rhine-Westphalia with 170 million euros, Berlin with 143 million euros and Bavaria with 107 million euros.

A total of 305 million returned to the federal pot alone, as Peter Altmaier’s Federal Ministry of Economics (CDU) announced when asked. From there, 13.8 billion euros had been distributed at the end of September.

Expect the refund amount to increase significantly. “The digital feedback process is expected to start at the end of October, in which the actual amount of the respective funding is finally determined,” said the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Economy. After the response, recipients of emergency aid would have until March 31 of the following year to repay amounts that may have been overpaid.

Confusion at first about the aid conditions.

Talks between the federal government and the federal states are still ongoing on the exact modalities of the return campaign. Recipients of emergency aid must be contacted again and at least random checks are planned.

Although there are also cases of fraud, the vast majority of applicants are not accused of ill will. On the one hand, there was irritation in the first weeks about what exactly the funds could be used for; At the very least, the federal emergency aid was only intended for business expenses such as office rent, but not for living expenses.

Above all, however, the actual financial requirements could not be foreseen in the first weeks of the crown restrictions. So the actual losses may have been less. This also explains the voluntary refunds that have already been made.

This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG. We are happy to take them home on a regular basis.