The federal government has launched another aid program, Bridging Aid III, to support companies affected by the coronavirus pandemic until the end of June 2021. Applications for Bridging Aid III can be submitted online with immediate effect. The involvement of a tax advisor is mandatory for Bridging Aid III. Payment has been announced for March, until then advance payments will be possible.

A tax advisor can register these clients for Bridging Aid III

A company is eligible to apply if it has experienced a drop in turnover of at least 30 percent in one month compared to the respective reference month of the previous year. The funding period runs from November 2020 to June 2021.

What costs can be covered by bridging assistance III?

As tax advisors for Bridging Aid III, we will be happy to inform you in detail about which costs are covered by the aid. In principle, bridging assistance III is a fixed-cost assistance, i.e. the following fixed costs are reimbursed on a pro rata basis:

  • Leases, property taxes, insurance, subscriptions and other fixed expenses
  • Rental costs for vehicles and machinery,
  • Interest expenses and the financing cost portion of lease installments
  • Expenses for electricity, water, heating and so on.

Personnel expenses that are not covered by short-time working allowances are subsidized at a flat rate of 20 percent of fixed costs.

Amount of the grants

The amount of funding depends on the drop in turnover:

  • up to 40 percent of eligible fixed costs are reimbursed in the event of a drop in sales of 30 to 50 percent,
  • up to 60 percent of eligible fixed costs are reimbursed in the event of a drop in sales of 50 to 70 percent, and
  • in the event of a drop in sales of more than 70 percent, up to 90 percent of eligible fixed costs are paid.

Restart aid for solo self-employed

Solo self-employed persons receive staggered restart aid of up to 25% of the 2019 annual turnover. As a tax consultant for Bridging Assistance III, we will be happy to determine the amount of your individual restart assistance for you.

Advice for clients and external applicants for Bridging Aid III

For our clients, we automatically check the complex eligibility requirements on the basis of the current bookkeeping, provided this is prepared in our office. For external applicants, we can check on an individual basis whether it is possible for us to submit an application. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us! Incidentally, if you use a tax advisor for Bridging Assistance III, the costs will be reimbursed to you on a pro rata basis as part of the assistance.

Further details on bridging assistance can be found here:

https://www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/DE/Pressemitteilungen/2021/02/20210210-antragstellung-fuer-ueberbrueckungshilfe-lll-ist-gestartet.html