Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Portal Due To Open On 20 April

HMRC has announced plans to open the new online Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) service on the 20th April ...

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak last month. It has been of great concern to many business owners if HMRC will pay the CJRS grants in time to save their cash-strapped business.

"HMRC announced last week that it would launch on 20th April!"

Payments will be made around 10 days after the claim has been submitted and following that, future claims will be paid within around six days. The online service is being beta tested with a small group of selected employers, and applicants will access it with their existing Government Gateway credentials.

Following the first backdated claims, any subsequent claims cannot be made more than 14-days before payroll is run. Authorised tax agents who act on behalf of clients will be able to file claims, but file-only agents and payroll bureaus will not be due to data protection issues.

The new online CJRS system is rather resilient with a capacity of 450,000 users per hour, but HMRC has said there may be some queuing to make an application, as we've come to expect with online supermarket shopping.

"But do be warned!

HMRC is also setting up a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme whistleblower service so employees can report employers who abuse the service by making them work when they are officially furloughed.

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