CJRS guidance updated – reference dates

The guidance on employee registration dates has been updated with greater detail as to when an employee is eligible for furlough payments.

You need to identify the employee’s reference date to know which calculation rules you should use and because some calculations use the employee’s reference date in the calculation steps. The key points are:

  • The employee’s reference date is 19 March 2020: if you made a payment of earnings to the employee in the tax year 2019 to 2020 (and reported this to HMRC on a Real Time Information (RTI) Full Payment Submission (FPS) on or before 19 March 2020)
  • The employee’s reference date is 30 October 2020: if the 19 March 2020 employee reference date does not apply and you made a payment of earnings to the employee which was reported to HMRC on an RTI FPS between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020 (inclusive)
  • Where neither 19 March 2020 nor 30 October 2020 reference dates apply the employee is not eligible for furlough payment before 1 May 2021.
  • The employee’s reference date is 2 March 2021: If you made a payment of earnings to the employee which was reported to HMRC on an RTI FPS between 31 October 2020 and 2 March 2021 (inclusive). These employees will be eligible for furlough payments from 1 May 2021.

You can check which employees you can claim for here.