DIER Top-up exemption declaration procedures

Category 1

Employers within this category are:

a) Sole traders with a maximum of 5 employees; or
b) Partnerships with up to a maximum of 5 employees; or
c) Private companies with a maximum of 5 employees with a balance sheet total that does not exceed €100,000.

These Employers are required to submit the Category 1 declaration, which should be signed ONLY by a representative of the employer. In this category, the signature of a warranted accountant is NOT required.

Category 2

These are Employers, which do not meet the criteria for Category 1 classification. These Employers are required to submit the Category 2 declaration, which should be signed by a representative of the employer AND by a warranted accountant. The warranted accountant signing off will be the accountant employed or contracted/engaged by the employer – in lieu of an employed accountant - to assemble and prepare the management financial information of the employer, utilised for the purposes of the declaration.

Category 3

Employers which do not fall within Categories 1 or 2 and which do not have an employed or contracted warranted accountant to assemble and prepare the management financial information of the employer for the purposes of this declaration, are required to engage a warranted accountant to support the Employer’s assessment that the Employer was not in a financial position to commit to the monthly wage top-up payment of €400 per employee, over and above the COVID Wage Supplement that is being granted by Malta Enterprise.

The Employers in Category 3, are required to submit to the DIER the Category 1 declaration, which should be signed soley by a representative of the Employer and a copy of the Agreed Upon Procedures Document (AUP) signed by the warranted accountant they engaged.