UKRO recently sought clarifications from the Commission on the question of reporting interest generated by the coordinator’s bank account on Horizon 2020/Europe projects.
Issue in question
When the coordinating institution receives an EU contribution from the Granting Authority on Horizon projects (e.g. pre-financing payment) – depending on the type of bank account used – it can generate interest. Questions have been asked about the obligation to report such interest generated by the EU contribution on Horizon projects to the Granting Authority (Commission or one of its executive agencies).
Clarification
The European Commission has now confirmed that according to Article 8(4) of the Financial Regulation 2018/1046, interest generated by pre-financing payments is not due to the Union budget (except if otherwise provided).
Therefore, under Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, coordinators or any other beneficiary do not have to declare any positive interest they obtained resulting from the funds paid by the Granting Authority.