The Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) reports that HMRC issued the first set of coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS) compliance letters last week as part of the post-transaction review phase of the scheme. The ATT notes that HMRC will be focusing on fraudulent claims rather than cases where the employer has made an innocent error, and intends to publish more details of its approach to compliance in the coming weeks.

Employers who become aware of an error are advised to contact HMRC to correct the position. The deadline for correcting overclaims is the later of:

  • 90 days after the date the employer received the grant they were not entitled to;
  • 90 days after the date the employer received the grant that they are no longer entitled to keep because their circumstances have changed; and
  • 20 October 2020.

Although HMRC had removed much of the detailed guidance for the pre-July version of the scheme from its web pages, archived versions are now available on the National archives website. The older guidance may be helpful for those looking to check their claims for the period from March to June 2020.

HMRC has also published additional examples to help employers calculate claims for flexibly furloughed employees during September and October 2020, and separate updated guidance for employers who are claiming for 100 or more employees under the scheme from 1 July onwards.