Correcting your CJRS overclaim to HMRC
26 June 2020
HMRC has updated the Claim for wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) GOV.UK page to provide further clarification where an employer needs to make a repayment for an overclaim of grant through the CJRS.
Overclaim correction
The guidance now makes clear that if you have made an error and overclaimed an amount this must be repaid which can be made by letting HMRC know when you make your next claim where you will be asked whether you need to reduce the amount to take account of a previous overclaim. If so your new claim amount will be reduced to reflect the overclaimed amount and you should keep a record of this adjustment for 6 years.
If you have overclaimed and you do not plan to submit any further claims then you should contact HMRC to confirm the details of your error and find out how to pay back any overclaimed amounts. Once you have contacted HMRC, you will be given a payment reference number and directed to make a payment.
Underclaim correction process
Where you have made an error resulting in an underclaimed amount, you should contact HMRC to amend your claim. HMRC will conduct further checks to ensure that your claim can proceed, as you will be increasing the amount of your claim.
In addition, a new guidance page on repaying CJRS overclaims has been added to the CJRS guidance collection.
The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication. For all the latest information, news and resources on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting payroll professionals, visit our Coronavirus hub.