The Government have approved the publication of the Companies (Rescue Process for Small and Micro Companies) Act 2021. The Act amends the Companies Act 2014 to provide for a new Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP) that mirrors key elements of existing examinership framework in an administrative context.

THE PROCESS

1. APPOINTMENT OF INSOLVENCY PRACTITIONER
   An insolvency practitioner is appointed to formulate a rescue plan to provide each creditor with a better outcome than liquidation within 6 weeks of his/her appointment.
2. EXCLUDABLE CREDITORS
   Insolvency practitioner identifies excludable creditors and served notice to them that the process is intending to compromise their debt.
3. CREDITORS VOTE
   Creditors vote on the 3 rescue plan by day 49 of the insolvency practitioner appointment.
4. THE DECISION
   The rescue plan will be 60% in number and value approved provided that of an impaired class of creditors vote in favour of the proposal, and no creditors raise objections within the 21 day cooling off period.
5. AN OBJECTION
   If an objection is made, the company must seek the courts approval, to safeguard creditors.
6. FINAL APPROVAL
   The Court must be satisfied that the rescue plan is fair, equitable and does not unfairly prejudice any objecting creditors. If this is proven, the Court will approve the rescue plan.

Today we are living in VUCA world and have been for quite some time – volatility , uncertainty , complexity and ambiguity is the norm as a result of the pandemic.
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Everything in the financial markets is relative. Growth potential, rates of return and safety are all considerations which urge capital to flow to one region or asset class over another according to prevailing conditions in the markets. Given its ubiquity, the US Dollar often finds itself a bridge to these shifting winds - for better and worse. Through the opening quarter of 2021, there were significant changes in focus from an incredible charge in retail appetite to anticipation for reopening economies after mass vaccinations to burgeoning inflation expectations that have fed into central bank normalization hopes/fears.

On 1 July 2021, the VAT rules on cross-border-business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce activities changed. The rationale for these changes is to overcome barriers to cross-border online sales and address challenges arising from the VAT regimes for distance sales of goods and for the importation of low value consignments. It is envisaged that EU Businesses will be able to grow in a simplified, fairer environment within the European Digital Single Market.

As the country prepares to reopen in the coming months, a hot topic is the legality of requiring your staff to have the Covid-19 vaccination in order to return to the workplace. At present, there is no legislation that requires persons to vaccinate specifically for the purpose of returning to the workplace. There are a few exceptions where an employer can require staff members to vaccinate but these are limited to healthcare and possibly childcare environments.
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There Is however, a framework you may follow to ensure your staff are safely following the best advice as per public health guidelines. The first step in this is to open the conversation with your staff members about their intention to vaccinate. This allows the employer to assess what percentage of employees intend on getting vaccinated. For employees who are unsure or do not wish to vaccinate, consider implementing procedures that best support the vaccination process. For example:

The June deadline for employers wishing to pay their Employee’s TWSS tax liability without a charge to Benefit in Kind (BIK) has been extended to 30 September 2021.

Revenue also confirmed that the concession applies where an employer pays the Income Tax and USC liabilities:

• of an employee who is a self-assessed taxpayer or in jointly assessed cases, if the employee’s spouse is self-assessed and;
  
• of a proprietary director in the company provided the employers pays the TWSS related liabilities of all employees in the company.