What is a Furlough Fraud? The government has announced that following actions constitute an overclaimed furlough grant and consequently will lead to furlough fraud;

1. any amount the employer was not entitled to receive; or
2. any amount the employer is no longer entitled to receive after a change in circumstances – for instance if one or more employees who are no longer employed by you are still having their wages claimed for under the Job Retention Scheme.

Study shows that two third of workers carried on with their jobs while on furlough.What are penalties for Furlough fraud?HMRC’s primary concern is to address non-compliance with the Scheme. HMRC is not obliged to investigate innocent errors. You will not be charged a penalty if you were not aware of the overpayment at the time it was received, or at the time you’re your circumstances changed, and if it is repaid within the following time period:

• 12 months from when their accounting period ends to rectify errors
• until 31 January 2022 for sole traders/partners

Whilst errors can be rectified, you will still need to report this as the following penalties may otherwise apply:

• income tax charge – full overclaimed amounts may be recovered if HMRC make a tax assessment for the amount overclaimed, of which payment of the assessed amount will be due 30 days after the assessment (otherwise interest will be charged on the tax from day 31)
• company officers can be made personally liable in the cases of insolvency
• 100% penalty for failing to notify HMRC, within the below notification period
• details of employers that deliberately overclaim may be published
• partners will be jointly and severally liable for any overclaimed grants repayable

How can I repay overclaimed furlough grant?If you repay the overclaimed grant, this will prevent any potential tax liabilities. Notification of any overclaimed furlough grant payments need to be made within any of the following notification periods:

• 90 days after receiving the overclaimed payment
• 90 days after the day circumstances changed
• by 20 October 2020

In order to make the relevant overpayments back to HMRC (if you have overclaimed), you can either correct this error in their next claim or make a payment directly to HMRC if you are not due to make any further claim. You need to be aware, however, that you need to contact HMRC to receive a payment reference number before making payments. You should notify HMRC of the amount that has been overclaimed as an additional step to making a new furlough claim and any new grant payments made to you will reflect any deductions made due to previous overclaimed payments. You should keep records of this for six years.Get in touch with Naail & Co for further advice or click here to book a telephone appointment. RELATED BLOGS:Furlough scheme – update & recent changesEmployment allowance (EA) and CJRS