HMRC has recently issued a reminder about the next deadline for claiming under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and an update on the information they will publish shortly on your claims.
December claims
If you have not yet submitted your December furlough claim by the deadline of 14 January, HMRC may “still accept it if you have a reasonable excuse”. Reasonable excuses only apply to late claims for periods from November onwards. For more information on reasonable excuses, go to GOV.UK and search 'claim for wages'.
If you have already submitted your claims for December but need to make a change because you did not claim enough, you can do this until Thursday 28 January.
To find out how to amend your claim, search 'Get help with the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme' on GOV.UK.
You can now make January claims
You can now submit your claims for periods in January. These must be made by Monday 15 February.
You can claim before, during or after you process your payroll. If you can, HMRC advises to make a claim once you are sure of the exact number of hours your employees will work so you do not have to amend your claim at a later date.
You and your employees do not need to have benefitted from the scheme before to make a claim. You can check if you are eligible and work out how much you can claim using our CJRS calculator and examples, by searching 'Job Retention Scheme' on GOV.UK.
Summary of what you need to do now
- If you haven’t submitted your claim for December but believe that you have a reasonable excuse, check if you can apply to make a late claim by searching 'claim for wages' on GOV.UK.
- Check you claimed the right amount in December by looking at the eligibility criteria and calculating how much you can claim – search 'Job Retention Scheme' on GOV.UK.
- Submit any claims for January no later than Monday 15 February.
- Keep records that support the amount of CJRS grants you claim, in case HMRC needs to check them.
Making your claim online
To make a CJRS claim, you will need to be registered and have the required access, password or activation code for HMRC online services. For more information search 'HMRC services' on GOV.UK.
Publishing information on claims
On 26 January HMRC will publish a list of employer names who have claimed CJRS for periods from December onwards, on GOV.UK.
From February, HMRC will publish the names, an indication of the value of claims and Company Registration Numbers (for those who have one) of employers who make CJRS claims for periods starting on or after 1 December. The published value of your claim will be shown within a banded range – to find a list of these, search 'Check if you can claim for your employees' wages' on GOV.UK.
HMRC will not publish details of employers claiming through the scheme if they can show that publicising these would result in a serious risk of violence or intimidation to individuals, or those living with them. To request for your details not to be published, complete the online application form – go to GOV.UK and search 'Check if you can claim for your employees' wages'.
Employees will also be able to check if the employer has made a CJRS claim on their behalf through their online Personal Tax Account from February. They can set up a Personal Tax Account by going to GOV.UK and searching 'Personal Tax Account: sign in or set up'.
Details of CJRS claims will now be published monthly as part of HMRC’s commitment to transparency and to deter fraudulent claims.
Further support
To book online HMRC’s live webinars, or to view updated guidance, go to GOV.UK and search 'help and support if your business is affected by coronavirus'.
There is also a list of monthly claims deadlines and a step-by-step guide on GOV.UK, summarising the latest information on CJRS and the steps you need to take to make a claim – you can find these by searching 'Job Retention Scheme step-by-step guide'.
