HMRC backs down on RTI

HMRC has acted on feedback it has received and released a new timetable for RTI penalties which will stagger the start of the new in-year late filing and payment penalties say Harris & Co accountants Northampton who have seen many small businesses struggle with the introduction of RTI.

Originally, in-year PAYE penalties for late filing and late payment and in-year interest were to be automatically imposed from 6 April 2014. The new timetable will give employers more time to adapt to reporting in real time.

Under the new timetable, in-year interest on any in-year payments not made by the due date will commence from April 2014, while automatic in-year late filing penalties and automatic in-year late payment penalties will start from October 2014 and April 2015 respectively.

Introducing in-year late filing penalties from 6 October means that employers who bring all their submissions for the period 6 April - 5 October 2014 up to date by 5 October will not face any in-year late filing penalties.

HMRC will suspend the issue of electronic generic notification alerts for late payment and non-filing until April 2014, and will still issue late payment penalties manually for 2014-15.

It has also announced forthcoming changes to its systems, which will include the introduction, from April 2014, of a new RTI ‘Late Reporting Reason’ data item to allow employers to tell HMRC why they are submitting data late; and additional safeguards to their internal systems such as the automatic correction of some common employer errors.

HMRC’s Director General for Personal Tax, Ruth Owen, said that the introduction of RTI is going extremely well for the majority of employers but there are still some who need a bit of time to adapt fully to the changes.

‘This additional time will give us the opportunity to ensure that improvements to our internal systems are working, to learn from them and to provide better customer support to employers who need more time to adapt,’ said Owen.