Wednesday 10 June 2020

HMRC powers to recover Covid-19 payments

We have been advising clients for some time now that HMRC will start to closely review a claimant’s eligibility for the Covid-19 reliefs and grants being paid. Well we noticed that a HMRC draft consultation paper has now been published on the .Gov website supporting this (unsurprisingly without much fanfare):


The consultation period closes on the 12th June 2020, but the paper covers the powers HMRC would have to raise a tax assessment on anyone who has received a SEISS or CJRS payment to which they are not entitled, or anyone who has not used a CJRS payment to pay furloughed employee costs. It also gives HMRC powers to charge a penalty where a person deliberately makes an incorrect claim for a SEISS or CJRS payment. In addition, it gives HMRC powers to charge a penalty where a person who has claimed a CJRS payment deliberately does not use it for the costs it was intended to reimburse. 

These HMRC powers aim to quite rightly cover situations of fraud and misuse of government schemes. However if you haven’t yet made a claim and feel that you are eligible for support, it is important to make a claim in a timely manner. Please drop us a line and we can talk you through what support may be available.

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