package main /* A. Personnel costs A.1 Costs for employees (or equivalent) are eligible as personnel costs if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are related to personnel working for the beneficiary under an employment contract (or equivalent appointing act) and assigned to the action. They must be limited to salaries (including net payments during parental leave), social security contributions, taxes and other costs linked to the remuneration, if they arise from national law or the employment contract (or equivalent appointing act) and be calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred, in accordance with the following method: {daily rate for the person multiplied by number of day-equivalents worked on the action (rounded up or down to the nearest half-day)}. The daily rate must be calculated as: {annual personnel costs for the person divided by 215}. The number of day-equivalents declared for a person must be identifiable and verifiable (see Article 20). The actual time spent on parental leave by a person assigned to the action may be deducted from the 215 days indicated in the above formula. The total number of day-equivalents declared in EU grants, for a person for a year, cannot be higher than 215, minus time spent on parental leave (if any). For personnel which receives supplementary payments for work in projects (project-based remuneration), the personnel costs must be calculated at a rate which: - corresponds to the actual remuneration costs paid by the beneficiary for the time worked by the person in the action over the reporting period - does not exceed the remuneration costs paid by the beneficiary for work in similar projects funded by national schemes (‘national projects reference’) - is defined based on objective criteria allowing to determine the amount to which the person is entitled and - reflects the usual practice of the beneficiary to pay consistently bonuses or supplementary payments for work in projects funded by national schemes. The national projects reference is the remuneration defined in national law, collective labour agreement or written internal rules of the beneficiary applicable to work in projects funded by national schemes */ /* ARTICLE 20 — RECORD-KEEPING 20.1 Keeping records and supporting documents The beneficiaries must — at least until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6) — keep records and other supporting documents to prove the proper implementation of the action in line with the accepted standards in the respective field (if any). In addition, the beneficiaries must — for the same period — keep the following to justify the amounts declared: (a) for actual costs: adequate records and supporting documents to prove the costs declared (such as contracts, subcontracts, invoices and accounting records); in addition, the beneficiaries’ usual accounting and internal control procedures must enable direct reconciliation between the amounts declared, the amounts recorded in their accounts and the amounts stated in the supporting documents (b) for flat-rate costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to prove the eligibility of the costs or contributions to which the flat-rate is applied (c) for the following simplified costs and contributions: the beneficiaries do not need to keep specific records on the actual costs incurred, but must keep: (i) for unit costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to prove the number of units declared (ii) for lump sum costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to prove proper implementation of the work as described in Annex 1 (iii) for financing not linked to costs (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to prove the achievement of the results or the fulfilment of the conditions as described in Annex 1 (d) for unit, flat-rate and lump sum costs and contributions according to usual cost accounting practices (if any): the beneficiaries must keep any adequate records and supporting documents to prove that their cost accounting practices have been applied in a consistent manner, based on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding, and that they comply with the eligibility conditions set out in Articles 6.1 and 6.2. Moreover, the following is needed for specific budget categories: (e) for personnel costs: time worked for the beneficiary under the action must be supported by declarations signed monthly by the person and their supervisor, unless another reliable time-record system is in place; the granting authority may accept alternative evidence supporting the time worked for the action declared, if it considers that it offers an adequate level of assurance The records and supporting documents must be made available upon request (see Article 19) or in the context of checks, reviews, audits or investigations (see Article 25). If there are on-going checks, reviews, audits, investigations, litigation or other pursuits of claims under the Agreement (including the extension of findings; see Article 25), the beneficiaries must keep these records and other supporting documentation until the end of these procedures. The beneficiaries must keep the original documents. Digital and digitalised documents are considered originals if they are authorised by the applicable national law. The granting authority may accept non-original documents if they offer a comparable level of assurance. */ /* ARTICLE 21 — REPORTING [...] 21.2 Periodic reporting: Technical reports and financial statements In addition, the beneficiaries must provide reports to request payments, in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2): - for additional prefinancings (if any): an additional prefinancing report - for interim payments (if any) and the final payment: a periodic report. The prefinancing and periodic reports include a technical and financial part. The technical part includes an overview of the action implementation. It must be prepared using the template available in the Portal Periodic Reporting tool. The financial part of the additional prefinancing report includes a statement on the use of the previous prefinancing payment. The financial part of the periodic report includes: - the financial statements (individual and consolidated; for all beneficiaries/affiliated entities) - the explanation on the use of resources (or detailed cost reporting - the certificates on the financial statements (CFS) (if required; see Article 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3). The financial statements must detail the eligible costs and contributions for each budget category and, for the final payment, also the revenues for the action (see Articles 6 and 22). All eligible costs and contributions incurred should be declared, even if they exceed the amounts indicated in the estimated budget (see Annex 2). Amounts that are not declared in the individual financial statements will not be taken into account by the granting authority. By signing the financial statements (directly in the Portal Periodic Reporting tool), the beneficiaries confirm that: - the information provided is complete, reliable and true - the costs and contributions declared are eligible (see Article 6) - the costs and contributions can be substantiated by adequate records and supporting documents (see Article 20) that will be produced upon request (see Article 19) or in the context of checks, reviews, audits and investigations (see Article 25) - for the final periodic report: all the revenues have been declared (if required; see Article 22). Beneficiaries will have to submit also the financial statements of their affiliated entities (if any). In case of recoveries (see Article 22), beneficiaries will be held responsible also for the financial statements of their affiliated entities. */ /* 22.2 Recoveries Recoveries will be made, if — at beneficiary termination, final payment or afterwards — it turns out that the granting authority has paid too much and needs to recover the amounts undue. Each beneficiary’s financial responsibility in case of recovery is in principle limited to their own debt and undue amounts of their affiliated entities. In case of enforced recoveries (see Article 22.4), affiliated entities will be held liable for repaying debts of their beneficiaries, if required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.4). */