Deferred contribution payments expire. Companies feel ripped off
In the middle of the lockdown, the social security agencies are currently causing great resentment among companies. Since the beginning of the week, both the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) and the Social Insurance of the Self-Employed (SVS) have been sending reminders to the insured informing them of outstanding contributions – the KURIER reported.
The companies are requested to pay the deferred amounts by the end of March, otherwise default interest will apply. The fact that this is an impressive 3.38 percent is particularly indignant to those companies that are currently closed and where no return to normal operations is in sight. “In an environment of zero and negative interest rates, that seems like usury,” says Michaela Reitterer, President of the Austrian Hotel Association (ÖHV), annoyed. Employee-intensive companies in tourism in particular would suffer from the high default interest for deferred social security contributions.
Michaela Reitterer
Government should intervene
“If I would add 3.38 percent to my customers for payments not made, I would have the Chamber of Labor on my neck,” said the hotel owner, who has already made outstanding amounts due from the ÖGK. The ÖHV is calling for government intervention. The deferral period for social security contributions is also to be extended unbureaucratically: “City, ski and wellness hotels will sometimes not have enough liquidity for this in March. Timely information about an extension of a deferral without interest is the order of the day, ”said Reitterer.
individual solutions
According to the ÖGK, installment payments are also possible beyond March and the default interest of 3.38 percent would only be due from July, previously 1.38 percent. Both ÖGK and SVS also promise individual solutions for the companies particularly affected by the corona measures. The ÖGK has concluded 7,200 installment agreements across Austria since the beginning of the Corona crisis, and there have been over 58,000 requests for deferral in total. Overall, the health insurance fund has outstanding contributions of 1.2 billion euros, 600 million of which as a result of the Corona crisis. At SVS the deferrals amount to around 167 million euros.
At the end of January, the bank loan deferrals also expire. So that “the debt trap doesn't snap”, the Chamber of Labor (AK) is calling for extended loan deferrals until the end of June as well as a “protective screen” for bank customers. The institutes should forego interest on arrears and reminder fees. Furthermore, the AK wants a maximum of five percent interest to be charged for an account overdraft and no reductions in the overdraft limit. Here, too, the banks promise “tailor-made solutions for customers”.
