If you run a business in Ireland you have most likely been impacted by rising energy costs in 2022. In October of this year, the government passed the Finance Bill 2022 which will make provision for the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (“TBESS”).
As a result of the unprecedented increase in energy costs, this scheme will provide support to businesses that have been affected.
Electricity and natural gas costs related to the period 1 September 2022 to 28 February 2023.
The scheme operates on a self-assessment basis. In order to make a claim under the scheme, a person registering their details and details of their business activity should retain the proof of their basis for claiming, which Revenue may request under future eligibility checks.
The following businesses are examples of what would normally be considered to be trading:
• beauty salons
• cafés and restaurants
• crèches
• farmers
• hairdressers
• hotels
• insurance brokers
• manufacturers
• nursing homes
• pubs
• restaurants
• retailers
• stockbrokers
• travel agents
An eligible business must have experienced an increase of 50% or more in the average unit price for its electricity and/or gas compared to the same period in 2021. For example, a claim in respect of an electricity or gas bill with a billing period covering September 2022 will be compared to the September 2021 reference period.
If your business passed the energy cost threshold there may be other criteria to be met in order to be eligible.
If your business is eligible, you may have to meet additional criteria if you have passed the energy cost threshold.
1) You have complied with its obligations in relation to tax registration, tax payments and filing of tax returns.
2) Your business is eligible for a tax clearance certificate throughout the claim period
Once you have determined the amount of eligible costs of your electricity or gas bill you will be able to make a claim for a Temporary Business Energy Payment of an amount equal to 40 % of the eligible cost (subject to the monthly and temporary crisis framework caps on payments which we highlighted below. The claims for each bill can be made as you receive the bill and a business may make more than one claim in any single claim period.
But to note a claim for TBEP must be made within 4 months of the end of the claim period.
A monthly cap applies on the amount of payments that can be claimed under the TBESS a cap of €10,000 per trade generally applies. However, if you own multiple businesses this figure may be increased to a max of €30,000 if you need more information on this visit the revenue website. The same applies if you own two different businesses in different locations and each holds its own energy bill.
Revenue is still in the process of the developments process of how businesses register for this scheme, we are hoping that they will announce it this week so keep an eye on our social media account for the announcements.
When registering for the scheme you will need to:
You can register on ROS from 26 November 2022.
You can make a claim on ROS from 5 December 2022.
Energy costs for a claim period relate to each calendar month from 1 September 2022 to 28 February 2023.
Energy costs for a reference period relate to each calendar month from 1 September 2021 to 28 February 2022.
You must supply details of energy bills for both the claim period and the reference period.
Revenue’s TBESS calculator will:
