CJRS and annual PAYE, RTI made _before_ 19/3/20.

Didn't find your answer?

I'm resigned to idea that I may have lost out due to lack of forethought on my part in not switching to monthly PAYE, but still it would be useful to hear opinions and perhaps an explanation of the rationale if there is one!

As sole directory an employee I take salary as an annual lump sum and always have.  This was notified to HMRC when RTI was introduced and RTI submissions have been made every February since then.

I have fully furloughed since March 2020 (minus a few weeks during May) and successfully claimed CJRS for this up until the end of October.  However for November, the HMRC claims portal now says:

"You are not eligible to make a claim.  The employer is registered for PAYE online, but our records show that on 30 October 2020 there were no employees on the payroll.  Furloughed employees must have been on the employer’s PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020 to be eligible for this scheme."

Looking at the Treasury's official Directive (link), as I read it - the employer has a qualifying PAYE scheme (paras 4.1. & 4.2), made and reported a payment before 19/3/20 (para 11.3), has previously claimed CJRS in relation to the employee (11.5a) and has not reported a cessation of employment (11.5b), therefore the relevant reference day is 19/3/20 (para 11.2).

My question: Is the computer correct to say "No" ?

Many thanks in advance to any insights on this.

Qualifying employers
4.1 An employer is a qualifying employer if the employer has a qualifying PAYE scheme.
4.2 An employer has a qualifying PAYE scheme if-
(a) at the time of making the CJRS claim, the employer has a PAYE scheme registered on HMRC’s real time information system for PAYE, and
(b) that scheme was registered as described in paragraph 4.2(a) on or before 30 October 2020.

Employee’s relevant reference day for determining an employee’s reference salary and usual hours
11.1 Paragraphs 11.2 and 11.8 determine an employee’s relevant reference day for the purposes of an employee’s reference salary and usual hours.
11.2 The relevant reference day in relation to an employee to whom paragraph 11.3 or paragraph 11.5 applies is 19 March 2020.
11.3 This paragraph applies to an employee if-
(a) the employer making the CJRS claim made a payment (“the payment”) to the employee,
(b) the payment was reported to HMRC pursuant to paragraph 22 of Schedule A1 to the PAYE Regulations in a return that the employer is required to deliver in accordance with regulations 67B or 67D of those Regulations, and
(c) the return mentioned in paragraph 11.3(b) was delivered to HMRC on or before 19 March 2020.
11.4 In determining whether paragraph 11.3 applies to an employee-
(a) a return is delivered to HMRC on the day that the return is received by HMRC;
(b) a payment made to an employee reported to HMRC in a return delivered to HMRC on or before 19 March 2020 must be disregarded if-
(i) the employee’s employer has reported to HMRC a cessation of the employee’s employment,
(ii) the cessation of the employee’s employment occurred after the making of the payment, and
(iii) the cessation of the employee’s employment occurred on or before 23 September 2020.
11.5 This paragraph applies to an employee if the employee’s employer-
(a) has made a CJRS claim in relation to the employee by virtue of a relevant provision, and
(b) has not reported to HMRC a relevant cessation of the employee’s employment.

[edit 1/12/20, correct link] - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/935146/201112_CJRS_DIRECTION_No_5___CJRS_extension_1_Nov_-_31_Jan__SIGNED.pdf

 

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