Every Grant Agreement (GA) includes a budget with estimated project costs broken down by beneficiary and cost category. The actual costs will regularly deviate from the estimated costs in the course of the project. In these cases a budget transfer is possible, i.e. necessary. The maximum grant amount, however, remains unchanged.
As long as the project is carried out as planned, - i.e. action tasks and allocation between the beneficiaries do not change - budget transfers can be made without the consent of the EU Commission. In this case only the consortium's internal regulations specified in the Consortium Agreement must be observed (e.g. which consortium body is responsible for deciding on budget transfers and the relevant majority requirements).
An amendment of the GA is necessary if there is a “significant change” in the action's technical work (= "action tasks" according to Annex 1 of the GA). If additional subcontracting or in-kind contributions must be concluded during the project and the beneficiary does not want to run the risk that the costs will not be approved by the EU Commission afterwards, an amendment is recommended.
| Budget transfer | Amendment necessary? |
|---|---|
| between beneficiaries | NO |
| between budget categories of a beneficiary | NO |
| between different forms of costs (e.g. actual costs --> unit costs) | YES (exceptions: personnel costs, internal invoicing) |
| "significant change" of the Description of the Action according to Annex 1 of the GA (e.g. an action task is shifted to another beneficiary) | YES |
| later inclusion of non-budgeted subcontracting and in-kind contributions | YES – recommended (otherwise subsequent approval by the EU Commission at beneficiary's risk) |
More information can be found ...
- in the Annotated Grant Agreement (AGA), article 4.
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