Not sure if this should be here or in the Coronavirus thread? Mods - feel free to move it if needed...
I have a Ltd Company, and on the advice of my accountants have been claiming JRS since it was setup. I landed a FTC via the employing company payroll in November, so stopped my Ltd Company payroll and JRS claims - a P45 was issued by my accountant for my company payroll. The FTC ended prematurely at the end of January, so I contacted my accountants to restart payroll from my Ltd Company and JRS claims which they did from February.
My May JRS didn't come through, so I contacted my accountants this morning and was told that because I stopped and restarted payroll, I was ineligible for JRS and would have to pay back all my JRS payments since Feb ~ £1800, plus I would not be able to claim for May - September, so a loss of around £5000 including future JRS payments.
As I am nearing the bottom of my warchest, my plan was to continue with JRS until Sep, then close the company down before I go into debt - however, this repayment to HMRC has just about cleaned me out, so I am going to have to close the company down now.
All I got was an apology from my accountant, I have paid accountancy fees from Feb for an incorrect service, and worse than that - been led to believe I could claim for JRS when I couldn't because when I restarted payroll I was technically a "new employee". Which, I understand - I probably shouldn't have P45'd myself - as I didn't understand the implications for furlough and JRS, I'd have expected my accountants to have picked this up in February when payroll was restarted - not 4 months down the line.
Do I have any redress to my accountants? At the very least to refund the accountancy fees for a service that was wrong, or even fraudulent in the eyes of HMRC? Or do I just suck it up? I'm closing my company now as once I pay HMRC the refund I am down to scraps in my business bank account.
Cheers, any thoughts? Apart from "ask your accountant" or "you're a muppet - the onus is on you to check!"
Thanks
MGM
I have a Ltd Company, and on the advice of my accountants have been claiming JRS since it was setup. I landed a FTC via the employing company payroll in November, so stopped my Ltd Company payroll and JRS claims - a P45 was issued by my accountant for my company payroll. The FTC ended prematurely at the end of January, so I contacted my accountants to restart payroll from my Ltd Company and JRS claims which they did from February.
My May JRS didn't come through, so I contacted my accountants this morning and was told that because I stopped and restarted payroll, I was ineligible for JRS and would have to pay back all my JRS payments since Feb ~ £1800, plus I would not be able to claim for May - September, so a loss of around £5000 including future JRS payments.
As I am nearing the bottom of my warchest, my plan was to continue with JRS until Sep, then close the company down before I go into debt - however, this repayment to HMRC has just about cleaned me out, so I am going to have to close the company down now.
All I got was an apology from my accountant, I have paid accountancy fees from Feb for an incorrect service, and worse than that - been led to believe I could claim for JRS when I couldn't because when I restarted payroll I was technically a "new employee". Which, I understand - I probably shouldn't have P45'd myself - as I didn't understand the implications for furlough and JRS, I'd have expected my accountants to have picked this up in February when payroll was restarted - not 4 months down the line.
Do I have any redress to my accountants? At the very least to refund the accountancy fees for a service that was wrong, or even fraudulent in the eyes of HMRC? Or do I just suck it up? I'm closing my company now as once I pay HMRC the refund I am down to scraps in my business bank account.
Cheers, any thoughts? Apart from "ask your accountant" or "you're a muppet - the onus is on you to check!"
Thanks
MGM
