New timescales have been announced for lodging a furlough claim with HMRC. Generally, the claim has to be submitted within two weeks of the end of the previous calendar month unless there is a reasonable excuse for missing a deadline for making a claim in time.
The deadlines are listed below:
| Claim for furlough days in: | Claim must be submitted by: |
| November 2020 | 14 December 2020 |
| December 2020 | 14 January 2021 |
| January 2021 | 15 February 2021 |
| February 2021 | 15 March 2021 |
| March 2021 | 14 April 2021 |
The HMRC guidance states that the following examples ‘may’ amount to a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline:
- your partner or another close relative died shortly before the claim deadline
- you had an unexpected stay in hospital that prevented you from dealing with your claim
- you had a serious or life-threatening illness, including Coronavirus related illnesses, which prevented you from making your claim (and no one else could claim for you)
- a period of self-isolation prevented you from making your claim (and no one else could make the claim for you)
- your computer or software failed just before or while you were preparing your online claim service issues with HMRC online services prevented you from making your claim
- a fire, flood or theft prevented you them from making your claim
- postal delays that you could not have predicted prevented you from making your claim
- delays related to a disability you have prevented you from making your claim
- a HMRC error prevented you from making your claim
If you would like to know more about the latest furlough guidance then please get in touch with Sally Phillips on: sally.phillips@wardwilliams.co.uk or call 01932 830664.