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HMRC to help improve PAYE data quality

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13th Dec 2011
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HMRC is targeting business owners struggling to collect employee information to help employers deliver more accurate data to HMRC.

At least 1,000 businesses will receive face-to-face visits as part of its Targeted Employer Support (TES) scheme to help rectify missing PAYE information in employee records, such as National Insurance Number, date of birth and full names.

HMRC advised the TES scheme will help get data ready before the launch of the Real Time Information (RTI) service, which will see bosses provide HMRC with details of employees’ tax and deductions each time a payment is made, rather than the end of the tax year.

Over 500 returns claimed to employ 'AN Other' between 2009/10, with such errors causing incorrect amounts of tax deducted from employees, according to HMRC. 

HMRC’s Stephen Banyard, acting director general for Personal Tax, said: “Every year, employers send PAYE data to HMRC. While most is accurate, mistakes can be made. This can cause problems for employees such as wrong amounts being deducted from their pay. It can also use up valuable employer and HMRC time and money putting the error right.”

“HMRC is working hard to get data quality ready before RTI comes in and, as well as TES visits, we will improve the communications and guidance we provide on this subject,” Banyard added.

John Cassidy, tax investigation and dispute resolution partner at PKF, said: “It’s difficult not to welcome something that helps people get it right but we’ve seen so many occasions where what’s said is ‘We want to help people’ and the reality is that you’ve got inspectors looking for problems trying to find something they can charge a penalty rather than providing support.”

HMRC is due to start the RTI 12-month pilot programme from April 2012.

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By trelower
22nd Mar 2013 12:24

Payroll education visit!

We received a call this morning from the TES team who 'would like' to visit as part of this programme.

We employ @ 1,000 temporary seasonal agricultural workers for approximately 12 weeks for harvesting work. When they arrive they mostly do not have NINO's and we apply for these through the labour supplying agency. It is rare for a NINO to arrive before the  employee leaves the farm, usually to return to Eastern Europe.

Consequently, we have a large number of P45/46 records submitted in the last 2 years with no NINO attached and this seems to have generated the visit request. (Note it was phrased as a request!)

We have good systems for obtaining as much information as possible from the employees on arrival and have always replied to requests for P45/46 information from HMRC as fully as we are able but the fact that the NINO issuing system cannot keep pace with our turnover is the root of the problem.

The tone of the phone call was very much - 'we need to tell you how to run your payroll' which is slightly galling when we have spent so much time and effort to attempt to work within the HMRC systems as far as possible. We are also already reporting under the RTI pilot scheme.

I am concerned about the amount of time that this visit, and any subsequent calls, will take up. Has anyone had experience of these visits yet?

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