HMRC confirms Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) calculator contained a software error in January but has since been rectified

Posted on 11th February 2021 by Alexis Outram


Image to represent HMRC confirms Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) calculator contained a software error in January but has since been rectified

How might this affect you?

If you used the CJRS calculator prior to 21 January 2021 to calculate January 2021 claims for employees who are not on a fixed salary you will need to re-calculate your claim if:

  • You used an employee’s pay for January 2019 as reference pay, instead of 2020, and
  • Your employee’s pay was different in January 2019 to January 2020

Where January 2020 pay was used, there is no need for claimants to take any further action.

If, upon performing the re-calculation, it is apparent that the claim amount was incorrect, then:

  • If the claim submitted was more than it should have been, this should be amended in the next CJRS claim submission. Alternatively, HMRC should be notified as soon as possible, and a repayment made either online, through HMRC’s card payment service or by bank transfer.
  • If the claim submitted was less than it should have been, then claimants should call the helpline to get this corrected by 1 March 2021.

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