Corona crisis: overview of aid measures for businesses

The federal and state governments have initiated many relief measures to cushion the impact of the Corona crisis.

The federal and state governments are doing everything in their power to counter the effects of the Corona crisis. In addition to containing the spread of the virus, measures to support businesses and cushion the economic impact are top priorities.

At the moment, the primary aim is to safeguard the short-term liquidity of businesses and the jobs of their employees. The government has deliberately refrained from launching an immediate economic stimulus program because this would not help retailers and service providers who now have to keep their businesses closed. So far, the following aid and relief is available:

• Taxes: The tax authorities are accommodating companies and other affected taxpayers with many reliefs. For a list of the relief measures adopted to date, please refer to the article "Relief for taxpayers".

• SV contributions: Companies that are in serious payment difficulties as a result of the Corona epidemic and, for example, are still waiting for reimbursement of short-time working allowances, can have their social security contributions deferred. The measures are initially limited to April 30, 2020, and will only take effect once other arrangements for relief have been exhausted.

• Short-time allowance: Short-time allowance is granted under simplified conditions. You can find out more about this in the article "Application for short-time allowance".

• Immediate help: For freelancers, solo self-employed and small businesses, the federal and state governments grant non-repayable one-off payments. In addition to the federal program, which provides up to 15,000 euros for businesses with a maximum of 10 full-time employees, many states have also set up additional aid for businesses with more employees. We have summarized everything you need to know about emergency aid in our article "Emergency aid for freelancers and small businesses".

• Liquidity Guarantee: The German government has made a commitment, unlimited in volume, for loans by KfW to provide liquidity to businesses. In particular, this includes assumption of the credit risk for the on-lending banks of up to 80 % of the loan volume. The processing, risk assessment and disbursement of the KfW loans will be carried out as usual by the house bank. In the event of acute financial need, you should therefore always seek advice from your bank.

• Loan Repayment: You can also talk to your bank about temporarily reducing or suspending repayments. For consumer loan agreements entered into prior to March 15, 2020, interest or principal payments due between April 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020 will even be deferred per the law change. This is provided that the consumer has a loss of income due to the Corona pandemic that would cause payments under the loan agreement to jeopardize reasonable living expenses.

• Basic Security: Self-employed persons will have easier access to basic benefits. Applicants do not have to disclose their financial circumstances or touch their assets for the next 6 months. Applications will be approved provisionally, and the means test will not be carried out until later.

• Insolvency obligation: For the time being, the obligation to file for insolvency is suspended until September 30, 2020. The precondition is that the reason for insolvency is based on the effects of the Corona epidemic and that there are reasonable prospects of recovery based on an application for public assistance or serious financing or restructuring negotiations.

• Tenant: Tenants and lessees of residential or commercial properties cannot be terminated for the period April 1 through June 30, 2020, for missed rent payments due to the Corona pandemic. However, rent will still be due and interest may also accrue on late payments. These rent debts must be paid by June 30, 2022, or tenants may be terminated again.