Further Covid-19 tax developments for June 2020

Mon 06 Jul 2020

Below is a summary of some of further Covid-19 tax developments in June 2020.  There is a range of information and links relating to Covid-19 available on the Mazars UK website here.

• HMRC has issued new directions for the coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS) setting out how claims are to be made for flexible furloughing from 1 July 2020.  There are changes to the way the employers’ NIC reimbursement is calculated.
• The Future Fund scheme, aimed at providing convertible loan finance for early-stage, high-growth businesses from a diverse range of sectors, is now available to those businesses that participated in the accelerator scheme requiring the use of an overseas parent.
• Further Treasury Directions have been issued setting out how the Self-employed income support scheme extension (SEISS extension) will operate for claims from 14 July onwards (with a final deadline of 19 October 2020).  Claims for the first SEISS must be made by 13 July 2020.
• The temporary VAT zero rate for supplies of personal protective equipment has been extended to 31 October 2020 (see here and here).
• The deadline for submitting CJRS claims for the period to 30 June 2020 is 31 July 2020.  HMRC’s updated guidance covers flexible furloughing and there is added guidance on what to do if an amount has been over-claimed under the coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS).
• The deadline for notifying HMRC of an excessive CJRS claim where your client knows it is excessive – in order to avoid deliberate penalties – is the later of:
  • 90 days from the date of Royal Assent to Finance Bill 2020 (see para 12 of scheduled 16 to the 2 July version of FB 2020) and
  • 90 days from when the tax is due in order to recover the overpayment.