Repaying a furlough claim (online portal n/a)

Error on furlough claim, online portal not able to cope with the adjustment...anyone had experience?

Didn't find your answer?

Hi, 

Client made an error on their initial furlough claim

  • The adjustment required to be paid back to HMRC > current month claim
  • The online claim / adjustment mechanism doesn't work (it'll only allow you to adjust your current furlough claim downwards, provided the overall claim is a 'positive' figure (ie a figure that HMRC will be paying to the employer).

Can the client repay HMRC using their usual PAYE/NIC payment process?  Have been waiting 4 weeks for a callback from the Revenue technical team and client is keen to get it sorted.

Would be interested if anyone has gone through this process of repaying a furlough claim yet?

Many thanks!

Replies (6)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

avatar
By Wanderer
15th Jun 2020 11:08

noggsy wrote:

Can the client repay HMRC using their usual PAYE/NIC payment process?  Have been waiting 4 weeks for a callback from the Revenue technical team and client is keen to get it sorted.

Not a chance, the CJRS claim system isn't linked into the PAYE payments system.
Thanks (1)
avatar
By Southwestbeancounter
15th Jun 2020 14:47

Hi Noggsy
It's a pain in the neck tbh!
I came up with a theory which I thought was completely unorthodox, ran it past a tier 3 person on Friday and they agreed that was the only way to do it so that's what I've done - it did take 52 days (and a huge amount of hassle in between) for the tier 3 person to ring me back though!!!
Basically if your client say over-claimed £2,000 and the furlough claim this time is £1,500, you restrict the claim to 1p (as you have to claim something I found out!) show the previous overpayment as £1,499.99 and carry forward the balance of the claim i.e. £500.01 to be claimed against the next furlough claim.
If there is not going to be a next furlough claim then you will need to contact HMRC about the balance but otherwise you can deduct the balance off of your next claim in the same way and it should be sorted. Just make sure you keep a good paper trail!
As I say I came up with the theory, thought it couldn't possibly be the official route but apparently it is as they've written the software at such a pace they didn't allow for errors!
It only allows for over-claims though but Webchat should enable a tier 3 person to eventually call you back if you have an under-claim!
Good luck!

Thanks (0)
Replying to Southwestbeancounter:
avatar
By noggsy
15th Jun 2020 15:42

Southwestbeancounter wrote:

Hi Noggsy
It's a pain in the neck tbh!
I came up with a theory which I thought was completely unorthodox, ran it past a tier 3 person on Friday and they agreed that was the only way to do it so that's what I've done - it did take 52 days (and a huge amount of hassle in between) for the tier 3 person to ring me back though!!!
Basically if your client say over-claimed £2,000 and the furlough claim this time is £1,500, you restrict the claim to 1p (as you have to claim something I found out!) show the previous overpayment as £1,499.99 and carry forward the balance of the claim i.e. £500.01 to be claimed against the next furlough claim.
If there is not going to be a next furlough claim then you will need to contact HMRC about the balance but otherwise you can deduct the balance off of your next claim in the same way and it should be sorted. Just make sure you keep a good paper trail!
As I say I came up with the theory, thought it couldn't possibly be the official route but apparently it is as they've written the software at such a pace they didn't allow for errors!
It only allows for over-claims though but Webchat should enable a tier 3 person to eventually call you back if you have an under-claim!
Good luck!

Thanks for the reply...this particular one won't have sufficient future claims to offset, so looks like I'll need to wait on the phonecall from HMRC....

Thanks (1)
Replying to noggsy:
avatar
By Southwestbeancounter
15th Jun 2020 16:05

Good luck!
Over the 7+ weeks I was waiting for a call back I ended up doing 5 web-chats, two phone calls and two online emails, got so fed up that I got the AAM involved, they got so fed up they told me to lodge a formal complaint and after copying Jim Harra in to a couple of emails I received an acknowledgement from the Ministerial Team in Whitehall.
The tier 3 lady who phoned me on Friday did so as a direct result of my 5th web-chat! Up to the 3rd web-chat I knew I was on their list to call back as they kept saying there was a note and not to call them as they would call me but the lady on Friday (who was exceptionally helpful I must admit) said that there was a note on the file to say no call back now required as it had been sorted! She had no idea who wrote the note or when which wasn't very helpful so I would suggest getting on the Web-chat again to at least make sure you are still on their list to call back as they are supposed to be calling back within 10 working days now.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By ann12
16th Jun 2020 14:40

I had a client that had omitted to claim employer pension contributions one week. My first thought was to suggest they make the adjustment going forward however, this would mean the employer contributions were not in line with the amounts being claimed. I rang HMRC and did get a phone call after about 5 days and an apology for the delay- lovely lady who said you have to alter the claim for the week the error was made. She had to withdraw the claim and then re-enter all the information including employee names and NIC numbers. She said it would trigger the difference to be paid. I have not had confirmation from the client that they have received the money. I would assume that an over claim would be treated in the same way

Thanks (0)
avatar
By ann12
16th Jun 2020 14:41

duplicate

Thanks (0)