HMRC is hot on the trail of Covid-19 support grant fraudsters including those from the farming sector, according to an accountancy firm.
Saffery Champness is warning that those who wrongly claimed from the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) 'should come clean'.
HMRC recently advised that the claims window for the SEISS, covering the three months from February – April 2021, is open and will remain so until 1 June 2021.
There will be a fifth grant made available to those who qualify in due course, covering the period from May – September 2021.
Similarly, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will run to the end September 2021 for employers.
But Martyn Dobinson, partner at Saffery Champness, said fraudulent claims, including those from the farming sector, should be raised with HMRC 'at the earliest opportunity'.
He explained that the government would be 'especially keen' to identify where furlough rules had been breached.
“It was announced in the budget that the government was providing an additional £100 million of funding to HMRC to facilitate investigation and recouping of a suspected £3.5 billion in fraudulent claims," he said.
"We are aware of several cases where queries have been raised by HMRC, across various sectors, including the farming sector and we would advise any claimant who believes that they may have wrongly claimed to raise this with HMRC at the earliest opportunity.”
Mr Dobinson added: “We strongly advise that time is taken to review any claims made, and where appropriate, arrangements are made to repay any wrongly claimed support.
"Many claimants have already done so, with a reported £760 million repaid to date."
