Lost Furlough Claims Help

NeedAGoodAccountant

Is there any way to claim for Furlough scheme money from March 2020-March 2021?

And a way to investigate bad accountants or a body to contact to make complaints?

Bad accountants screwed me over out of £16K worth of furlough money.

Income dropped to zero at the beginning of lockdown. I was told because no PAYE slips were created so I could not claim for the furlough scheme and am not eligible for the Self Employment payouts as I’m a small one person LTD.

Suddenly, in April 2021 the accountants magically created PAYE slips for 2019-2020 & now want to charge for it! I’ve still yet to see these PAYE slips.

Jeremy535897

If you were not on the payroll at 19 March 2020, you were ineligible for the original furlough. There is no going back, but if you were put on the payroll at some time, you might have been eligible for furlough later.

Many single person companies fell foul of these rules, because the rules themselves were only published when it was too late to do anything to qualify for furlough. There was nothing the accountants could have done.

It seems like there is a lack of communication between you and your accountants, if they were producing payslips for 2019/20 that reflected salary you were unaware of.

You complain about a firm of accountants using the procedure set out in the letter of engagement you should have signed when engaging them to do work for your company. That process may ultimately involve the accountant's professional body, which could be one of several.

NeedAGoodAccountant

The infuriating part is the accountants said I was not on PAYE back in March 2020. Then strangely in April 2021 they sent an invoice for PAYE slips for the year 2019-2020. I’ve missed out on a whole year of furlough claims from March 2020-March 2021 because of their error. I still have yet to see the PAYE slips for 2019-2020.

Jeremy535897 said:

If you were not on the payroll at 19 March 2020, you were ineligible for the original furlough. There is no going back, but if you were put on the payroll at some time, you might have been eligible for furlough later.

Many single person companies fell foul of these rules, because the rules themselves were only published when it was too late to do anything to qualify for furlough. There was nothing the accountants could have done.

It seems like there is a lack of communication between you and your accountants, if they were producing payslips for 2019/20 that reflected salary you were unaware of.

You complain about a firm of accountants using the procedure set out in the letter of engagement you should have signed when engaging them to do work for your company. That process may ultimately involve the accountant's professional body, which could be one of several.

Jeremy535897

If they were responsible for payslips, they were responsible for payroll, so I find it baffling that they now produce payslips for so long ago. Many companies like yours were caught out because they only took an annual salary and only did an annual payroll run at the end of March (so missing the deadline of 19 March). But I would have expected them to be discussing these matters with you. I feel that there is something missing in the facts here.

Pennywise

How can you not know if you were on the payroll or not at that time?  Accountants should only have been making submissions to HMRC after approval by the client.  Was your accountant even qualified?  As Jeremy says, you need to check your letter of engagement to confirm what services etc were agreed between you.

NeedAGoodAccountant

In March 2020, the accountants said I was not on payroll & had no PAYE scheme set up at all. 

Weirdly & infuriatingly, they sent an invoice for PAYE slips from 2018-2021 in April 2021. As a result, a whole years worth of furlough claims have been missed.

They do not communicate unless they want to be paid & have not even sent the PAYE slips yet. The accountants told me I must pay for them first before I can see them. 

Is there anyone I can email at HMRC or companies house to check:
If PAYE is actually set up properly
If the accountants have not been fraudulently claiming Furlough pay on my behalf without my consent?

After looking through emails & paperwork, no contract was signed between the accountants & I. 

nyermen

I may be way off the mark (as I'm unclear if this is employee/employer), but if PAYE etc, should there be a P60 at the end of tax year etc?  Because HMRC sets a deadline of 31st May (couple of months after the april tax end) for them to be issued etc - both for employees to do their tax returns as well as HMRC to check they've got what they expect.  
https://www.gov.uk/payroll-annual-reporting/give-employees-p60-form

Jeremy535897

Do you complete SA returns?

Your personal tax account should show what pay you have received each year.

p00hsticks

I don't understand how you can not know if you are drawing a salary from your company or not

Surely you (or your accountants) produce and file company accounts annually ?

sheramber

Presumably, since there was no payroll you did not pay tax or NIC.

How was the money you drew out of the business classified?

Were you 'paid ' minimum salary so no liability and any more as dividends?

NeedAGoodAccountant

This is an interesting point. I’ve never received a P60 before as an LTD yet the accountants claim they have made PAYE slips from 2018 onwards. 

Who can I call for advice on this to at least get a hold of this paperwork? HMRC don’t know who to refer me to which is strange.