How does the government support businesses during the energy crisis?

Rising electricity and gas prices in this energy crisis are a major challenge for a lot of companies. In September, the government announced some measures to mitigate the impact of those rising energy prices. Measures were also taken for private consumers, but below we will discuss the support measures for businesses.

Support measures in various areas

Social support measures

• Companies facing difficulties because of high energy costs can get a deferral of payment of social security contributions.
• The system of temporary unemployment ‘energy’ is activated and aligned with the European Temporary Crisis Framework.
• Self-employed workers facing difficulties because of their energy bills can apply for a temporary bridging loan.
• Extended repayment plans for social security contributions of the self-employed;
• Raising awareness concerning advance payments of social security contributions for the self-employed.

Tax and financial support measures

• Deferred payment of taxes;
• Tax debt repayment plans;
• Updating of existing measures on the investment deduction;
• Tax exemption for regional support measures;
• Adjustment of investment scope of Belgian Recovery Fund;
• Reduction of excise taxes on gas and electricity to the European minimum for the months of November and December.

Other measures

• Temporary moratorium on bankruptcies for businesses affected by the energy crisis due to actions by suppliers;
• Code of conduct between energy suppliers and the self-employed and SMEs;
• The agri-food sector, as a critical industry, gets priority for energy supply when there is a risk of power outage.

A closer look at four measures

We take a closer look at four of these measures that can help you as a business or entrepreneur to mitigate the negative impact of the energy crisis.

1. Temporary unemployment energy

High energy costs have forced several companies to cut back or even shut down production. As a result, you as an employer may have less or no more work to offer. In that case, the employment contract cannot be performed.

To address this situation, a new form of temporary unemployment was introduced from 1 October 2022 until at least 31 December 2022. It is a variant of the well-known temporary unemployment for economic reasons. As an employer, you can choose which of these two systems to use.

The conditions for this system were set at the European level. For you to qualify for this temporary unemployment energy, you must be in one of these situations:

• your energy costs amount to at least 3% of your production costs;
• your energy bill for the third quarter of 2022 doubled compared to the third quarter of 2021.

Using a new version of the C106A form, prior notification must be made to the RVA as well as notification via the Social Security portal.

If you, as an employer, can prove that you meet the conditions, your employees can become economically unemployed without interruption. You are not required to introduce a mandatory working week. You can choose between full or partial suspension.

If you introduce this economic unemployment, your employees will receive unemployment benefit from the RVA. This amounts to 70% of the salary, capped at 3,075.05 euros per month. As an employer, you are required to pay a supplement of 6.10 euros per day of unemployment.

2. Payment deferral of social security contributions

This deferral takes the form of an instalment plan where you pay the overdue contributions in 1/12th or even 1/24th instalments. The payment deferral applies to the social security contributions for the third and fourth quarters of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. So far, no further details are known about this measure.

3. Bridging right for the self-employed

The rise in energy prices in the current energy crisis is considered an event with economic impact. If you decide to stop your activity because it is less profitable due to rising energy costs, you are eligible for the bridging right.

• You must interrupt all your professional activities for a consecutive period of at least seven calendar days.
• In your application, you must show why the increase in energy prices has led to the cessation of your self-employed activity. You must prove that your activity has become less profitable. You can do this through your advance gas and/or electricity bills that show an increase in your energy costs. Or you can use your balance sheet to prove the proportion of your energy costs to your total production costs.
• The application must be made through your social insurance fund.
• You must submit your application before the end of the second quarter following the quarter in which you interrupted or ceased your activity.

4. Tax payment deferral

As far as taxes are concerned, too, it was decided to allow deferral of payments and repayment plans for tax debts. Like with the payment deferral for social security contributions, no further details or conditions are known yet.

If you would like us to take a look at what the options are for your business, feel free to contact our HR Legal team.