Mon, 13 Feb 2012

Mrs Dummy? HMRC puts onus on employers to clean up data ahead of RTI

HMRC has put the onus on employers to clean up their inaccurate employee data ahead of RTI implementation.

The Revenue says that every year it receives incorrect or incomplete information from employers with a recent study revealing that 128 staff were entered as Mr, Ms or Mrs Dummy, while 824 employees had the surname “Unknown”.

Another 40 employees, according to their dates of birth, were aged over 200. Many other employees had their forenames and surnames swapped around or their first names replaced by initials, which HMRC says makes them difficult to identify.

Despite seemingly holding employers responsible for all data quality issues the Revenue says it is taking action on a range of fronts, including a payroll alignment exercise – where the department will align its employment data with that of employers as they migrate onto Real Time Information (RTI), data cleansing activity to eliminate duplicate records and revamping the guidance it gives to its staff.

“This activity forms part of a multi-faceted approach that also includes targeted support to employers, software suppliers and key industry sectors,” an HMRC spokesman told Payroll World.

“It’s actually the responsibility of all concerned – employers, individuals and the department – as everyone benefits from getting this right. But where our analysis shows that there are issues with the data we receive from some employers, it obviously makes sense to try and address those and we’re doing so by working collaboratively with them.”

Targeted drive

As part of this data improvement drive last year HMRC launched a Targeted Employer Support initiative (TES) among 1,000 employers identified as having the most issues with data quality.

Reporting on the schemes effectiveness an HMRC spokesman said: “Employers are welcoming the opportunity to work with HMRC to ensure compatibility of data. Responses to date affirm that we were right to put in place a collaborate approach; TES has been an excellent opportunity to develop our working relationship with employers and to foster mutual understanding in such a key area.”

The Revenue has also put a short video online discussing how inaccurate employer returns can affect employees, employers and HMRC, and offering basic advice on how employers can help reduce errors.

Jim Harra, HMRC’s director of customer operations, said: “It’s really important that employers get their employees’ information right, so that HMRC can match it to the right tax records. Otherwise, it can lead to more contact from staff, trying to sort out their tax, and from HMRC, trying to sort out the data issues.”

The video can be viewed here

See also:

• Entire KPMG UK workforce not paid on time due to human error
• KPMG: Businesses leaving planning for RTI ‘dangerously late’
• Specsavers joins RTI pilot next week: ‘we don’t foresee any problems’