03 August 2020 Julia Ascott, Employment Taxes Specialist
In true HMRC style, further details of the Job Retention Scheme (JRS) bonus were published on Friday in a policy paper that can be accessed here. It is actually a very simple premise: if your JRS submissions are accurate and up to date, each eligible employee continuously employed through to the end of January may earn you a £1,000 bonus from the Government.
Of course, there are conditions:
In addition, HMRC have also considered potential reviews for missing/incorrect data. Employers may not receive the bonus claim unless they "keep their payroll up to date and accurate and address all requests from HMRC to provide missing employee data for historic Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claims".
Where HMRC believes that a claim has been made with fraudulent intent, they will withhold payment of bonus until their enquiries are completed.
Employers can claim the Job Retention Bonus for all employees who meet the above criteria, including office holders, company directors and agency workers, including those employed by umbrella companies. The above criteria must be met regardless of the frequency of the employee’s pay periods, their hours worked and rate of pay.
In addition, employees can be included under TUPE rules, PAYE rules on business succession or compulsory liquidation orders, as long as the conditions above are met.
In all the above measures, accurate and timely submissions of RTI returns and JRS claims are key in ensuring a smooth pathway to bonus payment. It is recommended that all employers make sure that any under/over claims are corrected as soon as possible (see our JRS Part II for further details) and also your supporting data for eligibility to JRS is thorough and complete as this will be reviewed by HMRC should they raise an enquiry.
The JRS Part II document has been updated with the above bonus scheme rules .
Any questions, please email me.