The government has rolled out another subsidy program — between P5,000 to P8,000 (based on the region) — per month per eligible employee. The Department of Finance (DOF) recently announced Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) program. The SBWS measure will be rolled out through the Social Security System (SSS), which will only be accepting applications from 16 April 2020 to 30 April 2020 [Note: Extended by the DOF to 8 May 2020, in the light of the extension of the ECQ to May 15. Important Update: Refund of SBWS benefits; See also Grievance Procedure for those eligible but not covered, and Non-Duplication of SBWS, CAMP and SAP.]
Applications will be completed by the employer on behalf of their employees.
First tranche of payout is from 1-15 May 2020. Second tranche of payout is from 16-31 May 2020. The schedule may change depending on the timing of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
The SBWS is separate from the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) implemented by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). However, employees who have received a subsidy under the CAMP shall be eligible for only the first month of the SBWS to avoid duplication.
I. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
The business must meet two eligibility criteria: size of business and impact of the ECQ on the small business’ operations. The small business must meet both criteria.
- i. Size of business: The small business — whether a corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship — must not be in the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) Large Taxpayer Service (LTS) list.
- ii. Impact of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ): Small businesses under both Category A (non-essentials) that are forced to stop operations (i.e., temporary closure or suspension of work) and Category B (quasi-essentials) that are allowed to operate a skeleton force can apply for the wage subsidy for employees who are not able to work and did not get paid during the ECQ.
Employers in areas where other forms of quarantine have been put in place by the LGU may also qualify.
Category A: Non-essentials
- Non-food raw materials/ Non-essential manufacturing
- Tobacco
- Construction
- Airlines
- Non-essential services
- Hotels and restaurants
- Rental and leasing of personal goods
- Entertainment
Category B: Quasi-essentials
- Textiles, wearables, and leather for export
- Electronics manufacturing
- Retail trade
- Public transportation / trucking and cargo handling (food and non-food)
- Business process outsourcing
- Banks
- Personal service and domestic activities (salons, laundry, funeral, domestic help, others)
Priority. Businesses that have been compliant with the regulations of the BIR and SSS will be prioritized.
- 1. BIR-registered and complying with tax obligations during the past three years, up to January 2020.
- 2. SSS-registered and have paid SSS contributions for the past three years up to January 2020 (the last recorded contribution).
II. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR EMPLOYEES
An employee who fulfills ALL of the following criteria is eligible:
- Must be an employee of the eligible small business.
- Must be employed and active as of 1 March 2020 but unable to work due to the ECQ.
- Did not get paid by their employer for at least two weeks during the temporary closure or suspension of work in accordance with Labor Advisory No. 1, series of 2020.
- Can be of any contract status (e.g., regular, probationary, regular seasonal, project-based, fixed-term).
- Must be certified by the employer in the application as having met all the above criteria.
Priority. Priority will be given to employees that are BIR and SSS-registered and compliant with SSS and BIR regulations.
Disqualifications. The following employees are not eligible:
- Working from home or part of the skeleton force.
- On leave for the entire duration of the ECQ, whether with or without pay.
- Already a recipient of SSS unemployment benefits, to avoid duplication.
- Those who have settled or in-process SSS final claims (funeral, retirement, death, and total disability)
III. CONDITIONS TO AVAIL OF THE PROGRAM
To qualify for the program, the following conditions must be fulfilled:
- 1. Small businesses must maintain the employment status of all eligible employee beneficiaries before the ECQ and throughout the SBWS period. This will be checked during the monitoring and evaluation stage. Non-compliance with this condition shall result in the employer refunding to the government the wage subsidy amount.
- 2. Employees cannot resign during the ECQ period.
IV. SALARY SUBSIDY AMOUNT
All eligible employees of eligible small businesses shall be given a wage subsidy of P5,000 to P8,000 per month (depending on their region of work) for up to two months, depending on the extent of the ECQ.
- NCR – P8,0000 monthly wage subsidy per worker
- CAR – P5,500
- Region 1 – P5,500
- Region 2 – P5,500
- Region 3 – P8,000
- Region 4A – P8,000
- Region 4B – P5,000
- Region 5 – P5,000
- Region 6 – P6,000
- Region 7 – P6,000
- Region 8 – P5,000
- Region 9 – P5,000
- Region 10 – P6,000
- Region 11 – P6,000
- Region 12 – P5,000
- CARAGA – P5,000
- ARMM – P5,000
V. MODES OF PAYMENT
- 1. Withdrawal via employee’s SSS UMID cards enrolled as ATM.
- 2. Withdrawal from employee’s bank account for PESOnet participating banks.
- 3. Employee’s Union Bank Quick Card (partnership with SSS).
- 4. Employee’s E-wallet: PayMaya
- 5. Cash pick-up arrangements through remittance transfer companies.
VI. INQUIRIES ON PRE-QUALIFICATIONS
Send an email to BIR at SBWS_BIRquery@bir.gov.ph with the following information:
TIN
Registered Name or Business Name
Revenue District Office (RDO) where registered
Your message
For SSS inquiries:
Call Center: 1455 Toll Free: 1-800-10-2255777
Email: SBWSQueries@sss.gov.ph
Facebook: fb.com/SSSPh
Website: www.sss.gov.ph
Pano po Kung business owner and register sa BIR qualified pi ba ung mga workers nmin
On May 1 if the ecq is lifted and our small business opens and our employees started working again. Can we deduct the 5000 or 8000 from the total salary of the employee being a wage subsidy? Or employers must still pay the whole salary to the employee based on their actual salaries. If this is the case how can this be called a small business wage subsidy and how can this help small businesses?
Hi! Our company is qualified for the sbws. However,majority of our employees are under the category of qualifies but lacking credentials. What should we do? Do we have to wait for all of the employees to update before we submit our application?
Ganun din PO Ang sa Amin ma’am ..Anu Kaya Ang mabuting gawin..may deadline pa nman po sila
,nawala po ang simcard,, ,hindi po nka tanggap ng txt galing sa sss,,, na SBWS,,,po ,, sir ask ko lang po ,,??? Panu po makukuha ang ayuda ng SBWS,,,???? May pag asa pa po kaya makuha
isangguni niyo po sa company niyo para maifollow up po nila si sss..
Naka receive po na ng confirmation galing sss husband ko kaso malayo po m lhuillier sa min wala pa po masasakyan. Pwede po ba iclaim yun sa smart padala center? O kaya po sa Palawan?
Hi Jinky. Mas mainam na itanong mo ‘yan sa SSS mismo. Good luck.
Good day po, just want to ask po, nag pasa po ung company namin sa SBWS, ako lang po yung na disuqalified, kasi may other earnings daw po ako, eh wala naman po ako ibang earnings maliban sa job ko. Ako lang po yung hindi naapprove, ask ko lang po, pano po macocorrect ung reason kung bakit ka disqualified or ano po yung mga dapat gawin ko at ng company para maging qualified po ako? Thank you po sa reply po.
maam/sir wala po aq natanggap ng txt ng sss un mga kasama q meron na po..
Hi Gerome. Unfortunately, if no text message was received, most likely it was not approved. Still, please inquire with SSS. Good luck.
HELLO PO ASK KO LANG PO BAKIT HINDI NAKASALI ANG COMPANY KO SA SBWS NA PROGRAMA NIO..KARAMIHAN PO MGA BLIND AT PARTIALY SITED PO KAMI.
Hi po ask ko lng po lahat ng kasamahan ko sa work nakatanggap na ng galing sa sss bakit po ako gang ngayon wala pa din po.salamat po
Hi ask ko Lang po Yong sakin po KC ay Hindi po ako maka sign in sa Microsoft SharePoint ..para po maka fill up nako sa application ..Anu po Ang gagawin ko na naka ilang try Napo ako ..Peru ganun padin Ang kinalabasan cannot be found dw PO Ang account ko..Peru pag e sign in ko siya sa account mismo sa Microsoft makakapasok nman Peru pag don sa link na pinasa po NG sss para sa SharePoint application Hindi po ako maka pasok..
Hi.sir mam may tanung po ako anu po dapat gawin kapag wala ka natatangap na txt sa sss ng code para makakuha ka ng pera
Hellow po bakit po ung mga kasamahan ko sa trabaho nakakuha sa sbws. Tapos ako lang po ang wlaa pero kasama naman po aq sa na submitt ng company namin
Hi Erardo. Maraming rason. Kailangan kasi qualified pareho ang kumpanya ang ang empleyado. Mas mainam na i-coordinate mo sa inyong kumpanya. Good luck.
How can we fix employees lacking credentials
is there any way of complying the requirement needed on lacking credentials?
Qualified lo company namin
But our employee lacking credentials po without savings. Acxount.. Anu po gawin sa walang sacings account. How po
Can’t logged in ,my username is not found in the list of qualified SBWS, but our company RPMC PLASTICS PHILS., INC. received en email that we are qualified.
What do we do?
hi po ask ko lng kung bakit after ko ilagay ang passcode at tin # , ang lumalabas ay wala dw record of payment samantalang nakabayad na man kmi ng January 2020 ?