The guidance relating to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has been updated once again, and a significant amount of information was added to the various pages available last night.
In addition to this, a brand new guide was published – ‘Reporting payments in PAYE Real Time Information from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’. See the CIPP’s news article for further details.
Further updates were made to the ‘Claim for wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’ page in relation to using an agent for PAYE online.
Agents authorised to deal with PAYE online for their clients are also able to claim through the CJRS on their behalf.
For employers who would like to use an agent, but who do not have one that is authorised to do PAYE online for them, employers can grant the relevant access by heading to the ‘Manage Account’ section within their HMRC online services account. Agents must be enrolled in PAYE online for employers to do this and will need to provide their agent ID. Agents can access this from their HMRC online service for agents account, by selecting ‘Authorise Client’.
Employers can remove this level of authorisation from their agent if they do not want it to continue once the agent has submitted their claim or claims.
Employers will need to confirm with their agent which bank account they would like the grant(s) to be paid into.
The guide on how to ‘Work out 80% of your employees’ wages to claim through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’ was updated with further information specifically related to ‘how to claim’.
There is a reminder to employers that they must only claim for periods when their employee(s) were on furlough.
Employers must decide on the length of the claim period but should consider how frequently they run their payroll. The length of claim period will vary for different employers.
No more than one claim can be made during a claim period; therefore, all furloughed employees should be included for that claim period. This is because employers will not be able to make another claim for the same period or one that overlaps.
Employers must claim for all employees in each period at one time, and changes cannot be made. Once a claim has been submitted, it cannot be amended but HMRC are developing a process to allow for changes to be made.
Employers can make their claim in anticipation of a payroll run, at the point that they run their payroll or once payroll has been run. Claims can be backdated from 1 March 2020 if employees were already furloughed at that point, but a claim cannot start any earlier than the date employee(s) were first furloughed. Employers must pay the full amount they have claimed for their employee out to that employee, even if the company is in administration. If an employer is not able to do so, they will be required to repay the money to HMRC. This also applies to employer National Insurance (NI) contributions and employer pension contributions claimed for furloughed employee(s). When making a claim, employers are agreeing that: • The grant they receive can only be used to pay employee(s) salary and the employer NI contributions and employer pension contributions relating to that salary • They will immediately return any grants to HMRC if they are unwilling or unable to use it for the purposes of paying employee(s) salary and employer NI and pension contributions
Employers should only proceed with making a claim if they accept these conditions.
Both the employer and employee guidance pages have been updated. The guidance confirms that a collective agreement reached between an employer and a trade union, in relation to employees being placed on furlough, is acceptable for the purpose of an employer claiming through the CJRS. Further information about fixed-term contracts has also been provided. Employers can re-employ, furlough and claim for employees on fixed-term contracts if their contract expired after 28 February 2020 and a Real Time Information (RTI) payment submission was sent to HMRC on or before 28 February 2020, or if their contract expired by 19 March 2020 and an RTI payment submission was sent to HMRC on or before 19 March 2020.
If a fixed-term contract has not already expired, employers can opt to extend or renew it. Employers can claim for employees where an RTI payment submission was sent to HMRC on or before 19 March 2020.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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