HMRC to issue penalties for late submission of PAYE returns
HM Revenue & Customs have warned employers that, from October 6, in-year penalties will be charged for failure to file Pay As You Earn (PAYE) submissions on time.
HMRC have advised businesses and organisations that all submissions due for all PAYE schemes must be fully up-to-date by October 5 or you may face a penalty.
These could be between £100 and £400 per failure to file, depending on the number of people you employ. Late filing over three months or more may result in an increase in the penalty.
Penalties will be applied where a Full Payment Submission (FPS) has not been filed on or before the date you paid your employees where you have not told HMRC why the submission is legitimately late by using the late reporting reason field, or where HMRC have not received the expected number of submissions from you. The rules will apply to each PAYE scheme, rather than each employer.
HMRC is also urging employers to act immediately if you are still receiving Generic Notification Service (GNS) messages alerting you either that you have sent in late submissions or you haven't sent the number HMRC were expecting.
Until now messages have been sent via the GNS system to help employers avoid penalties in the future but from October if you receive a non-filing or late filing notification it will mean you appear to have sent a submission late or not at all and you may have to pay a penalty.
Penalty notices will include information on how to appeal if you think it is incorrect or had a reasonable excuse for the failure.
The normal deadline for sending payroll information is on or before the day you pay your employees. More information is available at www.hmrc.gov.uk/payerti/index.htm or see www.hmrc.gov.uk/news/paye-late-pen.pdf.