Changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – written 12 June 2020

This guidance page was updated on 12 June to include details on how the scheme will change from 1 July. The first time you will be able to make claims for days in July will be 1 July, you cannot claim for periods in July before this point. 31 July is the last day that you can submit claims for periods ending on or before 30 June. Read more below:

Changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

C19 Business News Update

Today face masks become compulsory on public transport in England and the Government has outlined its recovery strategy.

The Coronavirus job retention scheme rules (CJRS) are changing, and these are outlined below and other Government news.

At the end of the newsletter are details of allowable expenses for home working.

Please contact us if you have any queries. Stay safe! Read more below:

C19 Business News Update

How Different Circumstances Affect The Self Employed Grant Scheme

The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme currently allows you to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months’ worth of profits, and capped at £7,500 in total. Read more below:

How different circumstances affect the Self employed grant scheme

THE CORONAVIRUS JOB RETENTION SCHEME (CJRS) IS CHANGING! – Written 29 May 2020

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak outlined changes to the furlough scheme during the daily press briefing (29 May 2020).

The Chancellor stated that in June and July the furlough scheme will continue as before, but employers will be asked to cover National Insurance and employer pension contributions in August.

By September, businesses will pay 10% of wages for furloughed staff, and in October 20%, the UK chancellor said.

This means the subsidy will taper off from August, with businesses expected to pay a greater share of their staff salaries, starting with covering National Insurance and pension contributions. From September the government will cover only 70% of salaries, to a cap of £2,190 and from October it will pay 60%, to a cap of £1,875. Employers will make up the shortfall to get salaries back to 80% of pre-Covid lockdown levels.

After that, the scheme will close.

Flexible Furloughing of employees

From 1 July, employers can bring back to work employees that have previously been furloughed for any amount of time and any shift pattern, while still being able to claim CJRS grant for their normal hours not worked. When claiming the CJRS grant for furloughed hours employers will need to report and claim for a minimum period of a week.

The scheme will close to new entrants from 30 June. From this point onwards, employers will only be able to furlough employees that they have furloughed for a full 3-week period prior to 30 June.

This means that the final date by which an employer can furlough an employee for the first time will be 10 June, in order for the current 3-week furlough period to be completed by 30 June. Employers will have until 31 July to make any claims in respect of the period to 30 June.

Further guidance on flexible furloughing and how employers should calculate claims will be published on 12 June.

See: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wages-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention- scheme

At this stage we do not know more details – calculating furlough for workers returning part time will, we suspect, prove to be challenging, especially if there are variable working patterns . We will provide further information and guidance as soon as it is known.

Lisa and the Liric Team

SELF-EMPLOYED GET SECOND GRANT FROM GOVERNMENT – Written 29 May 2020

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said self-employed workers across the UK will be able to access a second Grant from the government to cover lost income while the country is in lockdown.

The grants paid out by the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will be worth 70% of a self-employed person’s average monthly trading profits to cover three months’ worth of income. The eligibility criteria are the same for both grants, and individuals will need to confirm that their business has been adversely affected by coronavirus when applying for the second and final grant. An individual does not need to have claimed for the first grant to be eligible for the second. They will be capped at £6,570.

This is the second and final time grants will be offered, the chancellor said.

Applications will open in August 2020. Further information will be available on gov.uk on 12 June 2020.

The scheme so far has been used by 2.6 million people and has paid out £6.8bn in claims to self-employed who have been affected by the impact of coronavirus on the economy.

The Government offered the first grant to the self-employed in March, paying 80% of average monthly trading profits, capped at £7,500. Applications for the first grant will close on 13 July 2020.

No announcement or Grant was made at the Daily press conference regarding Company Directors and those who became self-employed after April 2019.

If you have not yet applied for your first grant and require any assistance – please contact us

Thank you for your positive feedback!

It’s been a very unusual last couple of months – the Liric team have learned so many new things – who knew what the word Furlough meant at the beginning of March ??

We have been constantly keeping you up to date with Government announcements, providing guidance on the implications for you and your business,  directing you to support that may be available for your business through emails, Facebook and WhatsApp, online meetings and a dedicated client resource website .  We will continue to do this and work with you to help you through to the other side. 

What’s been great for us is the positive feedback we have been receiving. It really helps us to know our advice is valued – we know that not all accountants have been providing as much support so if you know another business who you think would benefit from Liric services please do refer them to us.  Here is a snapshot of your comments:

Many thanks for this. Yes, it’s really helpful. Thanks for all information coming your way currently. You are doing a great job at keeping your clients up to date. 

Thank- you so much Lisa for this VERY useful info! This is for me….

Well done for getting this Info out so quickly.

You are quick! Rishi Sunak has only just stopped talking!!

Thank you, Lisa. This is all very reassuring.

You are doing an amazing job, Lisa, all my thanks to you again.

Many thanks for all the info you have been sending out, it is very helpful.

Hope you are ok, thank you so much for you and Lisa’s support – it is outstanding and very very much appreciated.  We are so lucky to have you.

What a relief, thanks for letting us know. We have been receiving your emails but it’s worrying times and just nice to know we are included in the government plans. 

Keep up the good work, your efforts are very much appreciated.

Hi Liric team -Thanks for all the info lately!

Really appreciate all you’re doing.

Let me congratulate and thank you for your efforts, help, support and communication during this unusual period. Amazing response from your side.

As businesses are starting to get back to work, please remember to  stay safe. Do what you can, with what you have. Control what’s in your control. Help as many people as you can through this period with any spare resources you have, whether that’s time, money or love. This will not last forever and we will get through this… together… and be stronger at the other side.

New Features On CJRS Online Claim Service – update 12/5/20

Save and return option now added

In response to feedback from claimants using the service, HMRC have added a ‘save and return’ option. This means that you can now return to a partially completed claim, rather than having to do it all in one go.

HMRC GUIDANCE ON MAKING A CJRS CLAIM

Avoiding common mistakes

When you make a claim through CJRS, you should receive the funds within six working days after you apply, provided your claim matches records that HMRC hold for your PAYE scheme.

Making sure that you submit your claim correctly will reduce the chance of any delayed or wrong payments.

These steps should help keep the process as straight forward as possible:

  • read the guidance before you apply, to find this go to GOV.UK and search for ‘Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’, there is a step-by-step guide to applying and a calculator
  • check your employees are eligible, by looking at the guidance on GOV.UK
  • check your calculations each time you submit a claim, in case any details have changed
  • only submit one claim per pay period – you cannot submit another claim for overlapping periods; this means that in each claim you should include all furloughed employees paid during that period
  • if you have missing National Insurance numbers for employees, do try and find them so it doesn’t delay your claim; if an employee doesn’t have a National Insurance number yet, you should contact HMRC in order to complete your claim; go to GOV.UK and search for ‘get help with the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’ to find out how to contact us
  • double check all the information in the claim before you submit it, including your bank details.

We understand that sometimes you might make an error in your claim, and HMRC are working on a process to enable you to amend a claim. In the meantime, please do not amend your next claim to reflect any errors that you may have made in a previous one, as this could delay payment. If HMRC spot an error then, where possible, they will contact you or your agent to correct the claim.

Contact us if you need any help

The Liric Team

See also as the PDF below:

NEW FEATURES ON CJRS ONLINE CLAIM SERVICE – update 12/5/20

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT CLAIMING THE SELF EMPLOYED SUPPORT

As agents we are NOT able to apply for this on your behalf.  HMRC are beginning to contact those who they think may be eligible for the Governments Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) BUT you will need to apply through your own HMRC Government Gateway (GG).  This is not something we will have previously created for you as we deal with HMRC through a dedicated agents portal.  If you have not already done so you will need to create your own HMRC personal tax account and then attach your self assessment record to this.

THEN you will need to wait for an activation code from HMRC to be able to use this.  It can take up to 10 days for this code to arrive so please start this process ASAP. You will then need to log into your HMRC account and add the activation code to this. 

  • Screen shots of how to do this are here

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6fv2wynfw7d5hsm/Screen%20shots%20of%20setting%20up%20HMRC%20GG%20%20for%20PERSONAL%20TAX%20ACCOUNT.pdf?dl=0

The claims service will open 13 May and those eligible will have the money paid into their bank account by 25 May or within 6 working days of completing the claim.

Information below and there is a link to an online checker to see if you are eligible

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/self-employed-invited-to-get-ready-to-make-their-claims-for-coronavirus-covid-19-support

Please don’t hesitate to CONTACT US if you have any problems doing this

Lisa and the Liric team

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) – Update 5.5.20: Scheme Opens Earlier Than Expected!

See: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self- employment-income-support-scheme

This week HMRC will start contacting self-employed people who are likely to be eligible, through a combination of emails, SMS texts and letters, to tell them what they need to do to get ready to claim. Applications will open in tranches based on the unique taxpayer number (UTR) given to all self-employed taxpayers.


Read more here:

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) – Update 5.5.20

Dedicated Covid19 website for guidance and support

In these uncertain times we wanted to contact all our clients to let you know we are here to offer support and guidance over the next few months.

With a vast amount of rapidly changing guidance information available, we are really pleased to now be able to offer to you a link to a website  for our clients featuring C19 support, news and tools:

http://clientresources.co.uk

You can rely on us to help with Government Grants and other support to help you and your business survive.

Please see the tools and resources we have developed to help which are updated regularly.

We will continue to complete your accounts, VAT, payroll and tax returns in a timely manner.

Together we will get through this. Keep safe and stay healthy.