We anticipate that the HMRC portal which will allow employers to claim back salary costs for staff who have been furloughed is likely to be available on the 20th April. A pre-requisite even before you are asked to provide salary information will be for employers to be registered for PAYE Online (ePAYE), the HMRC digital tax portal. If you or your payroll provider has not yet registered, you should do so as soon as possible as it can take up to ten days to issue you with the details, which will include an activation code and allow you to register for ePAYE.
If you haven’t registered, you can do so following this link: https://www.gov.uk/paye-online/enrol.
You will likely need the following information to register:
- Your ‘HMRC for employers’ office number. This is a three-digit number (e.g. 623)
- Your Employer PAYE reference. This is generally a letter followed by three digits (e.g. A246) (note that the above two items represented in the format 623/A246)
- Your accounts office reference, which is the reference you use when making PAYE payments to HMRC
Once enrolled, you will need the following to make a claim
- your ePAYE reference number
- the number of employees being furloughed
- the claim period (start and end date)
- amount claimed (per the minimum length of furloughing of 3 consecutive weeks)
- your bank account number and sort code
- your contact name
- your phone number
Find out more at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme