No eligibility for Covid support due to late real-time information returns

The taxpayer had submitted no real-time information (RTI) returns after 13 November 2019 until 24 April 2020. It said this was because an upgrade to the software it used to submit these returns had been set to ‘test’ mode which resulted in it ceasing to send the returns. The taxpayer became aware of this only on 24 April after a call from HMRC and rectified the problem immediately. It then applied for and received payments under the coronavirus job retention scheme for its employees.

In September 2020 HMRC told the taxpayer it was opening a check into the taxpayer’s CJRS payments. This resulted in the identification of six employees who were not contained in the taxpayer’s RTI submissions to HMRC before 19 March 2020 (the cut-off date for an employee’s eligibility for the CJRS). The department raised an assessment to recover the furlough payments.

The taxpayer appealed. It...