Newsletter Autumn 2020

How to correct CJRS claims

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) pays a proportion of your furloughed employees’ wages, plus employer’s NI and pension contributions for periods before August.

The proportion of wages covered by the grant has gradually reduced from 80%, to 60% in October, although employers have to pay at least 80% of the furloughed employee’s usual wages throughout. The scheme also became more complicated when furloughed employees could go back to work parttime from 1st July.

HMRC realise that many employers may have made errors with the CJRS calculations. It is writing to employers, where the CJRS claims look unusual. If you get such a letter, don’t panic, but do review your CJRS calculations. We can help you with that.

If you find you have overclaimed the CJRS grant, you can repay the excess by reducing your next claim. Where all your employees have come off furlough, and you won’t make another claim, you need to ask HMRC for a reference number to repay the amount overclaimed. Do this by logging on to gov.uk using your Government Gateway credentials.

Your CJRS claim may also look odd if it included employees who were not paid for February or March because they were on parental leave, on active service with the Armed Forces reservists, or have been transferred to your payroll because of a business reorganisation. If you can identify such individuals, reply to HMRC with details of these apparently “new” employees.