We’ve kept you updated with the introduction and issues with Real-Time Information (RTI), and now we have further information about how employers who make mistakes in RTI reporting have been fined.
Between July and the end of September HMRC carried out a review of discrepancies between the amount of PAYE tax and NI employers thought was payable, compared with the amount HMRC believed was due.
While HMRC believed its systems showed the RTI charge correctly, it concedes this did not appear on its online records for some time. Therefore, employers viewing this would assume there was an issue, which caused further problems.
In order to minimise these mistakes HMRC provides some useful tips to employers:
- When an employee leaves but the employer doesn’t pay the final wage until later, the ‘payment after leaving’ indicator should not be used unless a full payment submission showing the date of leaving has been sent.
- Where an employee started work during the current tax year do not include pay and tax from their P45 from the previous tax year for the previous job in the ‘year-to-date’ figures.
There are other tips available and HMRC is compiling a list of these which we will bring to you as soon as we have them.
Most errors appear to happen when an employee starts work or leaves, and HMRC is working on helping employers to avoid these issues. We may need to work with you to review and correct your RTI procedures by April to avoid fines.