A reprieve when it comes to RTI…well, the penalties, at least

07 March 2014

We welcome HMRC’s decision to defer the new Real Time Information (RTI) penalty regime for employers. Instead of commencing next month at the start of the new tax year as planned, HMRC will phase the start of the new in-year late filing and payment penalties to allow time for the new regime to “bed in”. Since April 2013 when RTI was introduced, many teething troubles have been reported with the RTI system which requires employers to submit details of employees’ pay and deductions to the tax office each time an employee is paid. HMRC estimate that as many as 30% of employers are failing to do so on a consistent basis.

The revised schedule of RTI penalty milestones is as follows:

From April 2014 – interest will be chargeable on any in-year payment of PAYE and NICs not made by the due date.

From October 2014 – automatic in-year late filing penalties will commence – HMRC will pick up late submissions and create automatic warning notices and quarterly penalty notices.

From April 2015 – automatic in-year late payment penalties will commence, a year later than initially planned

For those clients for whom we undertake payroll services, rest assured that all RTI submissions are made on time on your behalf. If you have queries about RTI or would like to discuss payroll services, please contact us.