I have a client we took on a couple of years ago. He insisted he had dealt with the AE obligations and has always been very con-communicative on most subjects. It transpires that he advised TPR he was not an employer for AE purpses but did not take any action when the employees later earned enough/new employees taken on. I need to get to the bottom of this and get him to come clean. I'm having a meeting with the client shortly to find out whether the employees have at least been offered the pension and talk about the way forward. Does anyone have any experience of this type of scenario with TPR? I have heard of large fines being payable but is there any reduction for volunteering to finally do the right thing?
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It appears he has answered TPR's question about whether he should set up a pension scheme fraudulently and his subsequently behaviour has proved the point. Sounds like money laundering as well. I don't know whether they'll be nice to him or not, however.
The only option as the adviser is to set up the AE scheme and backdate all contributions, probably with the employer bearing the whole cost.
There will be fines of which you should make him aware, but set up the scheme and take it from there and check your AML requirements.
Did you not wonder why there no pension contributions in the books?
It is not sufficient to offer a pension scheme, eligible employees have to be auto-enrolled.
Voluntary disclosure and remediation (almost) always results in reduced penalties.
Be aware that it's deliberately difficult for employees to opt out and employers shouldn't 'encourage' employees to do so. Any disclosure that doesn't result in all eligible employees being enrolled should be treated with caution. Don't forget also to include some reasonable estimation of the lost investment returns.