Covid-19: a new scheme to compensate for the fixed costs of companies

As you know, an aid scheme, known as “fixed costs”, was set up at the beginning of 2021 to partially cover the significant costs borne each month by certain companies that are unable to absorb them due to the decline in their activity due to the health crisis. This system extends over a period from January to September 2021.

As such, the public authorities have just introduced a complementary scheme, called “rebound fixed costs” support scheme which will be able to benefit a greater number of companies, and which covers part of the fixed costs relating to the period from January to October 2021.

The companies concerned

The “rebound fixed costs” support scheme is intended for companies:

- formed before January 1, 2019, or between this date and January 31, 2021 (without forgetting the particularities of the rules applicable to these companies in terms of calculating loss of turnover and considering the aid already received).

- which have a negative gross operating profit “fixed costs” for the eligible period (i.e., from January 1 to October 31, 2021).

- which have suffered a loss of turnover of at least 50% over this period.

- which have achieved, in October 2021, at least 5% of their p turnover.

In addition, to be eligible for this financial support, companies must meet one of the following conditions:

- having been ordered to remain closed during at least one calendar month of the eligible period of consecutive days.

- or carrying out their main activity in one of the sectors strongly impacted by the crisis or in one of the sectors depending on the most affected sectors.

- or carrying out their main activity in the retail trade and have at least one of their sales stores located in a shopping mall of at least 20,000 m² ordered to close for at least one calendar month of the eligible period of consecutive days.

- or carrying out their main activity in the retail trade (except cars and motorcycles) or the rental of residential real estate located in a mountain town.

The amount of the financial support

The aid is intended to cover the fixed costs of the company which are not covered by its revenue or by other public financial supports. Therefore, the amount of the aid depends on the gross operating losses (GOS), i.e., the revenue of the company from which its operating expenses are deducted.

The aid will be able to cover up to 70% of the operating losses for companies with more than 50 employees and up to 90% of the operating losses for companies with less than 50 employees, within the limit of 10 million euros for companies created before January 1, 2019, and within the limit of 1.8 million euros for those created between January 1, 2019 and October 31, 2021. However, it must be noted that the fixed cost support already received is deducted from the amount of the “rebound fixed costs” support.

Filing for the rebound fixed costs support

Companies eligible for the “rebound fixed costs” support scheme must submit their application, in one go, between December 1, 2021 and January 31, 2022.

The payment of the “rebound fixed costs” support scheme will cancel, where applicable, the application under the “fixed costs” support scheme already submitted for the period from January 2021 to September 2021 and that has not yet been examined by the tax authorities.