COVID Restrictions Support Scheme

In Budget 2021, the Government announced a COVID Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS) to help support businesses. Generally, this scheme applied when businesses were significantly restricted from operating due to public health restrictions.

Qualifying businesses could apply to Revenue for a cash payment of up to €5,000 a week.

The scheme ran from 13 October 2020 until 31 January 2022.

With the removal of public health restrictions from 22 January 2022, businesses will no longer qualify for the CRSS. Businesses can claim an extra restart week payment for the week beginning 24 January 2022, to help with the costs of reopening fully – see ‘Rates’ below.

This page is a summary of the CRSS rules and operation. You can get more detailed guidance on the operation of the scheme in Revenue’s CRSS Guidelines (pdf).

Who can apply?

The scheme closed on 31 January 2022.

How do I qualify?

With the removal of public health restrictions from 22 January 2022, businesses will no longer qualify for the CRSS.

Your business premises must be either closed to customers or substantially restricted in operating due to COVID-19 restrictions. You must intend to reopen once the restrictions have been lifted.

If you operate more than one business premises that are impacted, you can make a claim in respect of each premises.

You must self-declare to Revenue that because of the COVID-19 restrictions, turnover for the restricted period is disrupted by 75% compared to 2019 levels.

If your business was set up between 26 December 2019 and 12 October 2020, the claim will be based on your actual weekly average turnover in the period between the start–up date and 12 October 2020.

If your business was set up between 13 October 2020 and 26 July 2021, you can now apply for the CRSS. The weekly payment will be calculated based on turnover between the date your business commenced, and 26 July 2021. Read Revenue’s guidelines on applying for CRSS (pdf), and see ‘Rates’ below.

Tax clearance

In order to receive a CRSS payment, you must:

• Have a valid tax clearance certificate
• Meet your VAT obligations

You can check your current tax clearance status online through ROS. Find more information on tax clearance on the Revenue website.

Restart week payment

From 22 January 2022, with the removal of public health restrictions, businesses are no longer restricted from operating. You will no longer qualify for the CRSS.

For the week beginning 24 January 2022, you can claim an extra restart week payment, to help with the costs of reopening fully.

The process for making a claim for the restart week payment is set out in Section 7.2 and 7.3 of Revenue’s CRSS Guidelines (pdf).

CRSS payment rates

You could claim to Revenue under the CRSS for a cash payment known as an Advance Credit for Trading Expenses (ACTE).

This payment was equal to 10% of your average weekly turnover in 2019 up to €20,000 and 5% thereafter, subject to a maximum weekly payment of €5,000. See table below.

If your business was established between 13 October 2020 and 26 July 2021, the claim was based on 10% of your average weekly turnover in the period between the date of commencement and 1 August 2021 (up to a maximum of €20,000).

You can claim 5% of your average weekly turnover for the reference period that exceeds €20,000.

You can also get the Advance Credit for Trading Expenses (ACTE). This will include your weekly amount, multiplied by the number of weeks in which the restrictions are in place (up to €5,000 per week).

There is a 2-step process to make a claim under the CRSS.

1. You must register for the CRSS through Revenue’s Online Service (ROS). You need to give details, such as the business location and the average weekly turnover for 2019 (or 2020 if your business started trading on or after 26 December 2019). Keep all supporting documentation that shows you meet the conditions of the CRSS. Revenue may request this information at a later date.
2. You must complete a CRSS claim for a claim period or claim periods. The claim period is the period during which the qualifying COVID-19 restrictions are in place. You can make your claim through the claims portal for CRSS, which is available through the eRepayments system on ROS.

You must make your claim within 8 weeks of the date the claim period starts (that is the date the restrictions start).

You must make your claim for the restart week payment within 8 weeks of the date the restrictions are lifted.

You can find details of the start and end dates of claim periods in section 5.5 of Revenue’s CRSS Guidelines (pdf).

You can also find more detailed information on how to apply in Revenue’s CRSS Guidelines (pdf).

You can get more help from Revenue through the myEnquiries system or by calling the CRSS helpline Tel: 01 738 3663 (Monday to Friday, from 9.00am to 13.30pm).