The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
News On Line
Arrests made in connection to £3.4 million furlough fraud 11 May 2021
Reports in the media confirm that two individuals have been arrested in connection with a HMRC investigation into suspected fraudulent use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) believed to equate to £3.4 million. Whilst the pair have been released under investigation, they had previously been arrested last month in relation to suspected multi-million-pound tax fraud.
Bank accounts holding over £6 million belonging to the individuals have been frozen by HMRC, following a search warrant that was carried out by its Taxpayer Protection Taskforce staff on 28 April 2021.
The Taxpayer Protection Taskforce was announced in the Budget, delivered by Chancellor, Rishi Sunak on 3 March 2021. The Government committed to investing more than £100 million into this new department which will consist of 1,265 HMRC staff, and is intended to fight fraud across the Government schemes designed to help businesses and individuals through the pandemic, e.g. the CJRS and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). Recent HMRC statistics reveal that over £61 billion has been claimed through the CJRS since its introduction, supporting 11.5 million furloughed jobs across 1.3 million employers.
CIPP comment
The CIPP’s Policy team has advised that, where possible, any employers utilising the CJRS check their claims and the documents that they hold in relation to those submissions. We know that the next big activity from HMRC will be on compliance so the key message is to be prepared. Have you been checking your claims for errors, and if so, have you identified any? Take our latest Quick Poll today.
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Letters sent to 10,000 employers regarding potential CJRS errors 11 May 2021
HMRC took to Twitter to confirm that its Taxpayer Protection Taskforce has submitted letters to 10,000 employers to advise them that they may have made erroneous claims relating to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).
The letters suggest to employers that they may have made a mistake / mistakes and encourage them to double check their claims.
Guidance on the topic of correcting claims can be found online.
Employers wishing to submit claims relating to the period of April 2021 must ensure that they do so by no later than 14 May 2021.
The CJRS will remain open until 30 September 2021. The level of Government support remains at 80% of an employee’s usual salary for hours not worked until 30 June 2021. It will decrease to 70% for the period of July, and then 60% for the claim periods of August and September 2021. Employees must still receive 80% of their usual salary for hours not worked until the scheme closes for any of the time that they are placed on furlough. For the periods of July, August and September 2021, employers will be required to fund the additional amount up to 80% that is not provided by the Government themselves.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
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