RVO, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (which is available at www.rvo.nl), has announced that the designated portal has been open since 25 November last for TVL (Fixed Cost Compensation scheme) applications for the fourth quarter of the current year. The TVL scheme has been designed to help SMEs in COVID-19 affected business sectors cope with their fixed costs. Credit institutions and financial institutions, holding companies, households, publicly funded schools and (international) government institutions are all excluded from participation in the TVL scheme, admission to which is strictly conditional upon the applicant business in question being able to tick each of the following boxes:
- its workforce must not exceed 250;
- it should have been entered in the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce’s Commercial Register on 15 March 2020;
- it should have suffered a sales drop-off in excess of 30 percent for Q4 2020 compared with Q4 2019;
- its fixed costs for Q4 2020 should run to a total of 3,000 euros or more (the precise level being determined on the basis of the fixed cost percentage that corresponds with the business’ main activity);
- its principal place of business should not be the same as the entrepreneur’s home address (unless the applicant business operates in the hospitality industry or is a street trader).
Hospitality businesses that have been ordered to shut down for COVID‑19 related reasons are eligible for a one-off top-up of their TVL allowance, to help compensate their loss of inventory. A separate support module for Q4 2020 is to be introduced for businesses in and suppliers to the event industry, on condition that the businesses in question should already have collected a TVL allowance during the period from June to September 2020 inclusive.
Dutch version: Loket aanvraag TVL vierde kwartaal geopend