Some financial and legal implications of H2020

... have been published recently (sources: Finance helpdesk, Euresearch). The following changes are expected:

Changes to the Grant agreement: ·         A single document with all provisions (no more Core +Annex II) ·         No more specific Annex III or special clauses. All provisions will be integrated in the grant agreement ·         On-line explanations for each part of the grant ("annotated GA") Changes in Implementation: ·         Electronic signature of Grant Agreement, amendments and Financial Statements, ·         Communication between the Commission and beneficiaries through the Participant Portal. Changes in Certification: •         Certificates on Financial Statements - only if total amount of the grant of the beneficiary is ≥ 325 k€ at the time of the payment of the balance (FP7: 375 k€), •         Certificates on the Methodology - as an option when using unit costs for direct personnel costs. Changes in Personnel Costs: •         Clarification of special cases such as in-house consultants, •         Define the standard formula for the calculation of the hourly rates, •         Time Recording requirements will be defined, •         Specific provisions for personnel costs, list of types of costs which may be considered "direct" (including explanations), etc. Other Changes: •         Definition of what is a direct cost for an H2020 project, •         Non-Deductible VAT shall (mostly) be Eligible, •         Possibly introducing the ability to use average exchange rates for cost reporting, •         Financial viability checks only on Coordinators.