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HMRC has been risk assessing Coronavirus Job Retentions Scheme (CJRS) applications as they have been received and it is now moving into the next phase of its compliance activity by getting in touch, by letter, with employers it believes may need to repay some, or all, of their grant.

The government agency has explained that letters are going out to businesses where:

  • The business may have claimed more CJRS grant than they are entitled to
  • The business may not meet the conditions to receive a CJRS grant - for example, by including employees in their CJRS claim who are not eligible.

The letter is asking businesses to review their claims and to get in touch with HMRC regardless of whether they believe there has been a mistake or not. HMRC have given a 90 day time period to notify them of overclaimed COVID grants. If businesses who have been contacted get in touch within that time, they will not be charged a penalty for the error in their claim. Conversely they will take action against those who set out to defraud the system.

The key risks businesses need to be aware of with entitlement of CJRS grants are:

  • grants not used for the purposes for which they are intended
  • calculation errors
  • employees working during periods that they are on furlough

There is guidance on the government website for if you've claimed too much, or not enough from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme:

  1. Franklin S
    Posted 25-Jun-2021 at
    A review was always going to be needed given the necessary haste in which the CJRS was constructed.
    0
  2. Tim S
    Posted 21-Dec-2020 at
    Grants are available to those who are eligible and they should ensure they meet criteria for eligibility.
    0
  3. Victor R
    Posted 24-Nov-2020 at
    we have been very careful to ensure that clients claiming are within the guidelines
    0
  4. Tabarak H
    Posted 16-Nov-2020 at
    Everybody should follow the CJRS grants.
    0
  5. Fofo K
    Posted 11-Oct-2020 at
    claim only if you meet HMRC requirement do not claim if not meet criteria in case of overclaim advise HMRC and return the overpayment received
    0
  6. Mohan L
    Posted 04-Oct-2020 at
    HMRC was always going to increase their investigations when the scheme started rolling out, as alot of these were rushed out to stem the bleeding from the economy. The issue HMRC will have is determining those fraudulent claims from the genuine errors, this first step will help.
    0
  7. Nick R
    Posted 02-Oct-2020 at
    We need to speak to any clients who have had such a letter so we can check whether HMRC have a case and we can then help them frame their reply and deal with any issues arising.
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  8. David B
    Posted 22-Sep-2020 at
    With guidance changing so regularly and no support being offered for certain calculations, they are going to be able to reclaim billions even from those innocent taxpayers and force them into insolvency, still not getting the money back.
    0
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