Apply for reimbursement of social security contributions as a supplementary benefit to seasonal short-time allowance

If your company receives seasonal short-time allowance for employees, you can, under certain conditions, additionally have the social security contributions reimbursed for these employees.

If your construction company cannot carry out construction work due to snowfall, for example, you can apply to have the social security contributions for your employees reimbursed in addition to the seasonal short-time allowance. This applies to the social security contributions that you have to bear alone as an employer.

This service is limited to businesses

• of the construction industry,
• of the scaffolding trade,
• of the roofing trade and
• of landscaping and gardening.

You can only receive the reimbursement of social security contributions during the so-called bad weather period from December to March. The calculation of the social security contributions is based on 80 percent of the lost wages.

You can only apply for the reimbursement of social security contributions for employees who are subject to compulsory insurance in the commercial sector. These are employees whose employment relationships cannot be terminated for weather-related reasons during the bad weather period in accordance with collective agreements. On the other hand, you cannot receive a reimbursement for the social security contributions for salaried employees and foremen.

You can apply for the reimbursement of social security contributions for recipients of seasonal short-time allowance in writing or online. Alternatively, you can also use KEA (electronic acceptance of short-time allowance documents), if applicable.

If you wish to apply for the benefit in writing:

• You calculate the remuneration and the seasonal short-time allowance.
• You pay the wages and seasonal short-time allowance to your employees and remit social security contributions.
• You apply monthly retroactively for the reimbursement of social security contributions at the responsible office of the Federal Employment Agency (application for seasonal short-time allowance and accounting list).
• The Employment Agency will review the application and the statement of account. If your application is approved, you will be reimbursed for the social security contributions.
• After the end of the bad weather period, the Employment Agency checks the submitted statements as part of a final audit and corrects the approved benefits if necessary.

If you want to apply for the service online:

• Access the "eServices" portal on the website of the Federal Employment Agency.
• Log in with your user ID and access the application for seasonal short-time allowance.
• Fill out the application, upload the billing list, and submit the application.
• The Employment Agency will review your application and documents. You will receive a notice regarding the decision on your application from the Employment Agency.
• The remaining procedural steps correspond to the written procedure.

If you want to use KEA for the service:

• You will need certified payroll software that supports transmission via KEA.
• In this case, you can submit your application and the corresponding billing list fully digitized and securely from your payroll software to the Federal Employment Agency.

• Objection
• Lawsuit before the social court