CJRS Guidance Changes – Some More

On 12 November 2020, the CJRS (3) Treasury Direction was published and said at 2.5 (c):

Essentially, HMRC will publish details of the employers that have made claims (the ‘claimants’). The Direction expands on 2.5 (c) at 34.1 – 34.8 as follows:

• 34.1 repeats the above information
• 34.2 details the information that will be published, namely the name of the employer or PAYE scheme, the company reference number and the value of the CJRS claim
• 34.3 says that HMRC ‘may’ publish a ‘reasonable indication’ of the claim amount rather than the actual amount
• 34.4 says the information must be published on Gov.UK or another ‘appropriate’ way
• 34.5 says that the information must be published within 3 months of the claim period end
• 34.6 says that it will only be published for one year
• 34.7 says that HMRC may refrain from publishing the data in some situations, such as where it may expose the employer to ‘serious risk of violence or intimidation’
• 34.8 allows HMRC to publish details of late claims that they have accepted

So, of course, guidance has changed and I detail the amendments to recent guidance. However, it is not all in relation to the above….…….

Start, as always, at the ‘collection’ page on Gov.UK and I detail below the pieces that have changed.  

This was the first piece of guidance, published on 26 March 2020. The 19 November 2020 update is the 29th time it has been updated, excluding the one-time that there has been an update saying a Welsh translation has been added. 

The 19 November 2020 update does two things:

1. Updates the section ‘who can claim’ to make clear that any entity can apply as long as they created and started a PAYE payroll scheme on or before 30 October 2020 (which is different from eligible employees who must have been on a RTI submission on or before 30 October 2020)
2. Added the information above about what information HMRC will make public

This guidance was first published on 14 May 2020 and the 12 November 2020 update is the 21st time it has been updated, excluding the 5 Welsh translations. 

The 19 November 2020 updated amends the section ‘If your employee becomes sick while furloughed’ to remove the part that says they can only be furloughed if they had been furloughed before 30 June 2020 and the claim was made by 31 July 2020. 

This guidance (for individuals), was also published for the first time on 26 March 2020. The 19 November 2020 update is the 25th (not including those 2 Welsh translations).

This update is concerning the ‘Report fraud to HMRC’ section and gives more details about what information will be published and where:

• It will be published on Gov.UK
• The employer’s name will be published and company number
• They will only publish an indication of the claim value. This is reference to 34.3 of the Direction that shows the approach HMRC have chosen to adopt
• Details will appear on an individual’s Personal Tax Account

This is a clear indication to employers that their claims will be very visible. Not only to the public but also to the employees that have been furloughed or, at least, the employees for who the employer has made a grant claim.

This guidance (for employers again), was published for the first time on 12 June 2020. The 19 November 2020 update is the 13th, with still no note of Welsh translations.

This change is agony to find and is all to do with the calculation of the 80% based on average number of hours worked in the tax year 2020/21. Rather than saying:

Start with the number of hours actually worked (or on paid annual leave or flexi-leave) from 6 April 2020 and up to the employee’s first day spent on furlough on or after 1 November 2020

The updated guidance now says (with the change underlined):

Start with the number of hours actually worked (or on paid annual leave or flexi-leave) from 6 April 2020 and up to (and including) the day before the employee’s first day spent on furlough on or after 1 November 2020.

Published for the first time on 21 June 2020, the 19 November 2020 update is the 14th time it has been amended, excluding the 3 Welsh translations.

The update is the same as the above with the small amendment inserting the words ‘(and including) the day before’.

Published on 14 May 2020, the 19 November 2020 update is the 9th time it has ben amended (with 2 Welsh translations back in May). There are actually 2 documents:

1. ‘Examples of how to calculate your employees' wages, National Insurance contributions and pension contributions’ has amendments to example 2.9 (employee with variable hours in 2020/21) and 3.9 (80% calculation between the date their employment started and the day before they are furloughed)
2. ‘Full examples of how to calculate the amount you should claim for an employee who is flexibly furloughed’ now has an example reflecting the CJRS (3) extension from 01 November 2020

This guidance was first published on 20 April 2020 and the 10 November 2020 update is 29th time it has been updated in English (with 3 Welsh translations).

The update is to the section about having a reasonable excuse for missing the claim filing deadline.  The latest version now contains examples of these reasonable excuses.  

Note that the following pieces of guidance have not changed since 10 November 2020:

• ‘Reporting employees' wages to HMRC when you've claimed through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’
• ‘Pay Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grants back’ 

Note that corresponding changes have been made to HMRC’s calculator for people employed after 20 March 2020.  This ensures that the 80% grant claim calculated is the same as the grant claim guidance.

What a marathon sprint that has been in my attempt to bring and explain the updated information to the profession.