Advance payments

The first instalment of support can be paid as an advance payment before any costs are accrued if this is justified considering the implementation of the project. Advance payments are possible in projects funded under the funding act (757/2021) or the business support act (758/2021). Advance payments can also be granted for lump-sum compensation projects. No advance payments can be made to public law bodies, unless there is a specific reason to do so. 

The applicant must indicate the need and reason for an advance payment and propose the amount of the advance payment in the support application. The amount of the advance payment can be no more than 30 per cent of the amount of granted support. 

The funding authority will decide whether the advance payment can be granted for the project. Advance payments are made automatically without any separate application after a support decision has been issued for the project. Only one advance payment can be made. 
The beneficiary will be provided with information about the advance payment granted and its terms and conditions in the project’s support decision. 

Offsetting an advance payment in projects funded under the funding act

In projects funded under the funding act, the funding authority must offset the advance payment made so that 30 per cent is deducted from the amount paid through each support payment decision until the full advance payment has been offset. 

A higher percentage can be deducted from the amount paid in the support payment decision if this is defined in the support decision or if the beneficiary requests this in its application for the payment of support. However, the remaining proportion of the advance payment must be offset no later than in the final decision on the payment of support. 

Offsetting an advance payment in projects funded under the business support act

In projects funded under the business support act, the advance payment made must be deducted in full from the first instalment paid based on the payment application. If the first instalment does not cover the full advance payment, the remaining proportion of the advance payment will be deducted from the following instalments until the advance payment has been deducted in full.