Enrol for PAYE Online to receive your grant for furloughed employees
Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Government will provide a grant to cover 80% of furloughed employees’ wages. Here’s what you need to do to make sure you can claim when the scheme goes live at the end of April:
Eligibility
To claim the Grant you must have:
- created and started a PAYE payroll scheme on or before 28 February 2020
- enrolled for PAYE online – this can take up to 10 days so you need to take action now
- a UK bank account
Any entity with a UK payroll can apply, including businesses, charities, recruitment agencies and public authorities.
What you need to do now
You need to check on the link below whether you have enrolled for PAYE online and enrol if you have not done so previously.
https://www.gov.uk/log-in-register-hmrc-online-services/register
PAYE online can take ten days to set up, so make sure you check as soon as you can.
If you are already set up for VAT, enrol for PAYE under ‘Services you can add’. You will need your PAYE reference number and your accounts reference number.
If you are a completely new user, then enrol for ‘PAYE for Employers’ under ‘Organisation’ and follow the steps. Once you’ve enrolled, you will receive an activation code in the post from HMRC. You’ll then need to log back into HMRC Online Services to activate your account.
Making a claim
To claim, you will need:
- your ePAYE reference number
- the number of employees being furloughed
- the claim period (start and end date)
- amount claimed (the minimum length of furloughing is 3 consecutive weeks)
- your bank account number and sort code
- your contact name and phone number
You will need to calculate the amount you are claiming using the amounts in your payroll either shortly before or during running payroll. Claims can be backdated until the 1 March where employees have already been furloughed.
If appropriate, worker’s wages should be reduced to 80% of their salary within your payroll before they are paid.
HMRC will retain the right to retrospectively audit all aspects of your claim.
As always, we’re here to help you in these uncertain times. If you need advice about any of the above, speak to us about the ways we can help.
