Clients familiar with the Real Time Information (RTI) online system, implemented by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for payroll, may be familiar with the problems experienced in February when several accountants and clients were incorrectly issued with late-filing notices.
In response to these problems, HMRC announced that the timescale for automatically fining late submissions would be pushed back. Automatic fines were originally intended to come into force in April but HMRC's change sees the most significant of these automatic fines pushed back a full year to April 2015.
The RTI system has experienced several problems since its introduction as it has required the involvement of accountants, clients and third parties such as software authors.
When the incorrect notices were issued in February there was an understandable degree of frustration, but the change of dates by HMRC shows that the system is still being evaluated and slowly rolled out. For employers using the RTI system themselves, this gives further encouragement that problems with RTI are being looked at closely by HMRC and anything they receive which appears to be incorrect should be closely queried.
- If you are uncertain or have any questions about RTI or an HMRC notice you have received, please do not hesitate to contact us.