In an anti-fraud move HMRC are to publish information about employers who submit claims under the extended Coronavirus Scheme over December 2020 and January 2021.
The CJRS data to be made public, will include the name of the employer and company reference, plus the amount of the CRJS claim, shown in banded ranges.
The information will be posted on the gov.uk website within three months of the claim, and will relate to claims made relating to periods later than 1 December 2020 and NOT earlier periods.
The feeling is that this is to make businesses focus on whether their operations have been impacted by Covid-19 or are they making a claim to cover the Xmas break where they would normally close, which is not in the spirit of the scheme.
Employers may decide they do want to risk the negative publicity by making a claim.
“Many believe that the decision to make the information public is an attempt to deter employers from applying under the scheme,” said legal experts at Nelsons. “It may also be a means to deter fraudulent claimants as they may feel more likely to get caught out once their details are published.”
The NAO estimate more than £3.9bn of public money may have been fraudulently claimed by businesses using the salary support scheme while ordering employees to continue working during the lockdown.
More information can be found here:
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