The business support division is stagnant: why is even one in four grant applications rejected? | Deal

According to the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, so far a total of 19,990 companies have requested grants, of which 11,356 have been submitted for disbursement, for a value of LTL 24.8 million. euros. It is true that the allocation promised 150 million. euros.

To date, there are 3,159 pending applications and up to 3,955 applications have been rejected.

Rejected – every quarter

Algirdas Butkevičius, a member of the mixed group of Seimas members, estimates that every fourth grant application from a company is rejected.

“Of the 150 million planned. On Friday only 24.8 million euros were awarded in grants. Euros. When we start to explain, it turns out that the STI rejects many applications, as evidenced by the statistics they provided us.” 15 minutes he said.

According to A. Butkevičius, one of the reasons why applications are rejected is related to individual companies. The grant submission description indicates that the business must have submitted a financial report for 2019. However, sole proprietorships are required by law to do so only if their regulations so require.

“The STI follows the Government’s resolution and the approved description, so it rejects these requests. “Some individual companies don’t have accountants, they hire them,” he said.

The Seimas member also addressed Prime Minister Ingrid Šimonytė requesting clarification of the description of the grant award. However, as he himself claims, there has been no response to this.

“At the committee meeting, both we and other members of Seimas called for the abandonment of such an excessive requirement, because companies, especially small ones, should not be obliged to have data that is already in state information systems.

The State Tax Inspectorate receives corporate tax returns, which show the financial results of the companies and could be used to assess the eligibility of individual companies to receive grants. Another option is that companies can freely declare the required financial indicators when submitting their application ”, it is written in an address to the Prime Minister, signed by A. Butkevičius and Vytautas Gapšys, a“ worker ”.

Support poster too small

Meanwhile, the president of the Lithuanian Business Confederation, Andrius Romanovskis, does not see a big problem with individual companies.

“You have to meet the criteria to get money. There is no legal contradiction here, it is simply another administrative barrier,” he is convinced.

However, according to A. Romanovskis, the state has established such criteria, so it is not possible to distribute the entire planned amount objectively, because companies cannot receive a larger amount of money.

“If you find that the support is 25%. Of the Personal Income Tax (PIT) and everyone who comes, applies, receives only 30 million. Although you said that you would distribute 100 million euros. It is a question of whether has put the sign too low “, 15 minutes speak.

It is true that A. Romanovskis assumes that most applications are rejected due to related companies.

“If you find a related company of the same shareholders that is not injured, everything is rejected,” he explained.

Rejections for unpaid financial statements and GPM

Rūta Giedrienė, Senior Advisor, CTI Audit Selection and Support Department 15 minutes stated that of 4.1 thousand. More than half of the rejected applications, 2,2 thousand, received a negative response, because the companies did not pay the GPM in 2019, from which the subsidy is calculated.

Approximately a third of the applications were rejected due to the failure to submit financial statements to the Registry Center for 2019. (1.4 thousand companies), but it should be noted that companies that have submitted financial statements may reapply for the subsidy ”, He said.

According to R. Giedrienė, 269 companies received a negative response, because on January 1 and the first day of the application month, no employees worked.

And 204 applicant companies were not eligible for the grant because of their activities in agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, credit and finance. Applications from 52 companies were rejected because the applicants did not meet the criteria for a trusted taxpayer.

“690 companies were asked to provide additional documents. When working with the applications selected for examination after the request for additional information, the STI generally does not fulfill the requests because the companies that submitted them do not submit additional documents on time, so “128 grant applications were rejected. In addition, 35 companies received a negative response, when companies, aware of the quarantine restrictions, paid dividends,” he commented.

According to the STI, a total of 1,785 individual companies submitted grant applications, of which 0.7 million were transferred to 405 companies. grants in euros.

“1,2 thousand. Individual companies still have to submit financial reports to the Records Center and then be able to reapply for the grant. Additionally, around 300 companies received a negative response because in 2019. they did not pay the GPM, to from which, as already mentioned, the subsidy is calculated “, assured R. Giedrienė.

Why, then, should sole proprietorships report, even though they are not required by law to do so? According to R. Giedrienė, the description of the subsidies is drawn up in accordance with the conditions and criteria established by the Ministry of Economy and Innovation and agreed with the European Commission.

It establishes the conditions and criteria that must be met by companies wishing to apply for a grant. One of them is that the company must have submitted financial statements for 2019. The Records Center, according to these reports, evaluates the compliance of the company. to the company concept ”, – said R. Giedrienė.

The pace of the minister is not satisfactory

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation in response 15 minutes said Minister Aušrinė Armonaitė had publicly expressed her position on the distribution of support last week after a meeting with the heads of the Lithuanian Business Support Agency (LVPA) and the State Tax Inspectorate.

“Ministers are not satisfied with the current pace of aid distribution, and the meeting set the task of implementing the relatively simpler aid measures (market tax rebates and subsidies to companies affected by COVID-19) to a faster pace “. 15 minutes Ministry representatives responded.

The Ministry’s response indicates that, in the Minister’s opinion, support decisions should be taken weekly, reducing bureaucratic obstacles and paperwork. In addition, the minimum subsidy of € 500 due to companies whose activities were restricted during the quarantine would be paid immediately.

“During the meeting, the STI and the LVPA stated that the pace of distribution of the support is further hampered by the algorithm to calculate the drop in billing, errors in completing requests and invoices and control companies; their turnover during the quarantine did not decrease, but increased and therefore they do not belong to them, ” 15 minutes.

15 minutes recalls that Most of the support package for companies affected by COVID-19 was approved by the government under oath in December. Another 30 million. EUR in this package is for loans.

In addition, the government is gradually approving a second support package, which will benefit particularly affected companies (whose turnover has fallen by 60% or more), the self-employed and market traders. Compensation is also provided to companies that test employees for the coronavirus.