13th July 2020
First arrest on furlough fraud - BDO comments
Just wanted to share Richard Morley’s comments following the first arrest on so-called furlough fraud. I know this has been widely reported on, but thought Richard’s forward-looking thoughts might be of interest
Following the news that an individual has been arrested on suspicion of £495,000 furlough fraud, Richard Morley, partner in Tax Dispute Resolution at BDO comments:
“It has recently been reported that HMRC has raided premises and arrested someone on suspicion of CJRS (furlough) scheme fraud. This is the first such case relating to the suspected fraudulent misuse of the furlough scheme.
“This underlines just how serious HMRC is on challenging the misuse of the Covid19 support schemes, making use of the tip offs it has already received and other information it holds.
“The Finance Bill which after receiving Royal Assent later this month, will trigger the start of the 90 day period for businesses to notify HMRC that they received furlough scheme payments which they were not entitled to receive or retain. Given that HMRC has clearly started to actively follow up on tip-off’s and potentially incorrect claims, instead of waiting for the start of the 90 day notification period, businesses and individuals should start reviewing their furlough claims now.”
ENDS