If you’ve claimed too much through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, or you’d like to make a voluntary repayment because you do not want or need the grant to pay your employees’ wages, tax and National Insurance and pension contributions, you can either:

How to pay

You must use the online service to get your payment reference number before you can pay HMRC back. You should only do this if you’re not making another claim.

Your payment may be delayed if you use the wrong reference number.

Pay by online or telephone banking, CHAPS and Bacs

You can pay by Faster Payments, CHAPS or Bacs to HMRC’s account.

Sort code Account number Account name
08 32 10 12001039 HMRC Cumbernauld

Payments by:

  • Faster Payments (online or telephone banking) usually reach HMRC on the same or next day, including weekends and bank holidays
  • CHAPS usually reach HMRC the same working day if you pay within your bank’s processing times
  • Bacs usually take 3 working days

Pay by card

You can also pay by debit card or corporate credit card.

If you’ve overclaimed

If you’ve overclaimed a grant and have not repaid it, you must notify HMRC by the latest of either:

  • 90 days after the date you received the grant you were not entitled to
  • 90 days after the date you received the grant that you were no longer entitled to keep because your circumstances changed
  • 20 October 2020

If you do not do this, you may have to pay a penalty. If you do repay any overclaimed grant, this will prevent any potential tax liability in respect of the overpayment of Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. We will not be actively looking for innocent errors in our compliance approach.

Find out more about when you may have to pay a penalty and other information, including:

  • how HMRC decides how much the penalty will be
  • when HMRC will not charge a penalty
  • how to appeal against a penalty