Upcoming deadlines, more information on reasonable excuse for late CJRS claims and the final VAT deferral deadline feature this week.
The CJRS
The deadline to submit CJRS claims for periods in May 2021 is today Monday 14 June 2021, unless reasonable excuse is available for late submission. Amendments to May 2021 CJRS claims must be made by Monday 28 June 2021.
The UK Government will continue to pay 80 percent of furloughed employees' usual wages for the hours not worked, up to a cap of £2,500 per month, to the end of June 2021.
Reasonable excuse for late CJRS claims
You may have a reasonable excuse if for example:
- your partner or another close relative died shortly before the claim deadline;
- you had an unexpected stay in hospital that prevented you from dealing with your claim;
- you had a serious or life-threatening illness, including COVID related illnesses, which prevented you from making your claim (and no one else could claim for you);
- a period of self-isolation prevented you from making your claim (and no one else could make the claim for you);
- your computer or software failed just before or while you were preparing your online claim;
- service issues with HMRC online services prevented you from making your claim;
- a fire, flood or theft prevented you them from making your claim;
- postal delays that you could not have predicted prevented you from making your claim;
- delays related to a disability you have prevented you from making your claim;
- an HMRC error prevented you from making your claim.
Conditions of claiming CJRS grants
Employers are reminded that for the months of May and June, they must pay the associated employee tax and National Insurance contributions to HMRC. This is a condition of applying for the grant; not doing means they’ll need to repay the whole of the CJRS grant and they may not be able to claim for future CJRS grants.
Changes from July
From 1 July 2021, CJRS grants will cover 70 percent of employees' usual wages for the hours not worked, up to a cap of £2,187.50. In August 2021 and September 2021, this will then reduce to 60 percent of employees' usual wages up to a cap of £1,875.
Employers will need to pay the 10 percent difference in July (20 percent in August and September), so that they can continue to pay their furloughed employees at least 80 percent of their usual wages for the hours they do not work during this time, up to a cap of £2,500 per month. Employers continue to be required to pay the associated employee tax and National Insurance contributions to HMRC in these months.
For the hours not worked employers can continue to choose to top up their employees' wages above the 80 percent level or cap for each month, at their own expense.
Furloughing flexibly
Employers don’t need to place all their employees on full furlough. They can use the CJRS flexibly to bring their employees back to work for some of their usual hours. Employers can claim for a portion of their usual wage costs for the hours spent on furlough.
VAT deferral – final deadline
The VAT deferral new payment scheme is available to businesses who deferred VAT due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 and still have payments to make, or who were unable to pay in full by 31 March 2021. This includes those on Payment on Account and Annual Accounting schemes. Businesses must apply on or before the final deadline of 21 June 2021 if they want to join the scheme and further defer this VAT.
The later businesses join the fewer instalments are available to them. The final deadline is Monday 21 June 2021 to benefit from making the payment over 8 instalments. Failure to make payment of the deferred VAT in full or to make an arrangement to pay by 30 June 2021 may result in a 5 percent penalty, according to the guidance.
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