HMRC has miscalculated thousands of grants given to the self-employed to help them through the coronavirus crisis, the Mirror has learned.
The tax authority has admitted that 16,200 pay-outs - 0.6% of the total - were either too high or should not have been paid out at all.
With £7.8 billion handed out during the first tranche of the scheme - through 2.7m grants - the mistake could cost the Treasury millions.
Legal services firm Integrated Dispute Resolutions, which highlighted the error, called on HMRC to reveal how much the taxpayer would pay as a result.