|
PAYE Penalties
We have noticed an increase in late filing penalties being issued to businesses that have a PAYE record set up but have no employees. Some businesses prefer to keep the PAYE record open in case employees are taken on in future, and in any case we have experienced some difficulty in arranging the closure of PAYE records with HMRC. Keeping a “dormant” PAYE record open involves ongoing administration to ensure that HMRC are kept informed of the dormant status and to avoid penalties being issued.
HMRC do not send reminders for the end of year returns, and therefore the requirement to notify HMRC that no return is needed is easily overlooked. Furthermore HMRC have been waiting until 4 months after the deadline before informing employers of penalties. This means that by the time the penalty noticed is issued the fines (£100 per month per 50 employers) have reached £400.
This can be a nasty surprise but the good news is that where no return or payment was due the penalties will be removed once HMRC are notified. The easiest way to inform HMRC is at the following link:
https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/shortforms/form/P35NilEmployer?dept-name=&sub-dept-name=&location=1&origin=http://www.hmrc.gov.uk
Please let us know if you need any assistance in this regard.
Business Records Checks – Update
In the previous edition of APT News we mentioned the new Business Records Checks being rolled out by HMRC. They have now confirmed that the pilot found “around 44 percent of businesses have problems with record keeping”. The activity is now being extended with full time staff on this initiative being increased from 30 to 120. They plan to complete up to 12,000 checks by 5 April 2012 and a further 20,000 during the next tax year.
If you have any concerns about your own business records please let us know.
Agent Copies of Forms
HMRC have announced that as part of ongoing cost-cutting they will be withdrawing agent copies of certain forms. Therefore we urge clients to send us copies of any letters, notices or forms they received from HMRC to ensure that our records are complete.
 Download article in PDF format
|
