RTI Muddle

RTI Muddle

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Got myself in a bit of a muddle with the RTI pay periods and paydates (weekly payroll) using quickbooks

Coming up to week 52 and payperiod from 1st April to 7th April but when setting it up entered the incorrect paydate.   The paydate for this period is showing to be 31st March when it should be 14th April.  Yes, I should have rectified this earlier

I want to get it right for the new financial year so the pay date is one week after the pay period.  i.e week 1 8th April - 14th April should be paid on 21st April

Will HMRC raise questions if we change the paydate by three weeks

 

Replies (9)

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RLI
By lionofludesch
30th Mar 2017 13:26

Will they ask questions ?

Probably. How did you not notice this before now ? How can you pay people for work they're doing next week ?

Start with the earliest payroll you've not yet submitted and get that one right.

What you probably should do is hold up your hands to HMRC and tell them you got it wrong.

Be prepared for awkward questions.

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By Jackie in Wiltshire
30th Mar 2017 15:34

Assuming you are using QB desktop: RTI & HMRC don't care about the pay period, they only care about the pay date, and the tax month in which the pay date falls.

You can verify this fact by checking the content of the filed RTI return, within QB.

You don't have to change the pay dates already submitted - the employees have (presumably) actually been paid on those pay dates.

In QB you can adjust the pay period per employee as you wish, whilst you are processing the pay.

So assuming the next pay date is 31 March you can adjust the pay period to what it should be, which is, according to your post, 18 March to 24 March.

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Replying to Jackie in Wiltshire:
RLI
By lionofludesch
30th Mar 2017 15:52

And the employees only get 51 weeks' free pay ?

They'll be chuffed, I expect......

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By Jim100
30th Mar 2017 22:42

We did notice but a lot of hassle and thought since the amounts and tax are the same it wouldn't mind. In hindsight yes we should have changed it. We were used to doing monthly payroll and this was out first weekly payroll.

For 2017/18 first pay date will be 21st April for the period upto 14th April. Can't we just tell HMRC we have just changed our pay date. Excuse my naivety but I don't quite understand why would HMRC be overly concerned over the paydate.

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Replying to Jim100:
Tom McClelland
By TomMcClelland
31st Mar 2017 08:25

Jim100 wrote:

We did notice but a lot of hassle and thought since the amounts and tax are the same it wouldn't mind. In hindsight yes we should have changed it. We were used to doing monthly payroll and this was out first weekly payroll.

For 2017/18 first pay date will be 21st April for the period upto 14th April. Can't we just tell HMRC we have just changed our pay date. Excuse my naivety but I don't quite understand why would HMRC be overly concerned over the paydate.

I'm not sure that I quite get what you are saying; certainly either you or I are misunderstanding something about your employees' (clients?) situation. You seem to be 2 weeks out, not one week out. The pay date of the 7th should have been week 1 of the new year, 14th is week 2, and 21st is week 3. When the work was done is not relevant to PAYE week timing. Just the contractual pay day.

EDIT: Reading your original post, you are possibly already aware of this. It is worth noting that the heading "RTI muddle" is slightly misleading. The rules about pay date defining PAYE period didn't change when RTI came in, but a lot of employers were getting this wrong and the requirement to file PAYE on payment brought historic incorrect practice to light when it would have remained hidden.

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By tom123
31st Mar 2017 06:59

What were the employees getting paid in the first two weeks of April 2016?

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By mbee1
31st Mar 2017 07:55

Move to a monthly payroll!

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By Vince54
03rd Apr 2017 16:38

If you've submitted an FPS on 14th April for work done in the period 1st to 7th April with a payment date of 31st March then you've incurred late filing penalties for not having filed "on or before payday".

You certainly need to correct the paydate shown on the FPS to avoid more penalties.

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By Mike Nicholas
04th Apr 2017 10:23

This guidance might help:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/aligning-payroll-to-the-correct-tax-period

An aspect of the pay date is that HMRC may well use it to determine the amount of tax/NICs falling due for the tax month/quarter - ie period 12 for 2016/17 rather than period 1 in 2017/18.

Maybe contact HMTC helpline to obtain their advice?

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