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No backup plan in case RTI fails admits HMRC chief
In a bizarre exchange between the Revenue’s chief executive Lin Homer and Labour Treasury sub-committee member Teresa Pearce, Homer said HMRC had “the reverse of a backup plan” that relied fundamentally on lessons from the RTI pilot.: The committee was taking evidence on the administration and effectiveness of HMRC earlier this week when Pearce asked: “Do you have a backup plan if this doesn’t work – if people can’t do RTI, they can’t do online filing - will a paper system happen?”
Fri, 2 Nov 2012 • Read more
Payroll manager stole £90,000 from her company to ‘keep people happy’
Michele Griffins, 41, from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire used the names of former or fictitious employees at Eckoh in Hemel Hempstead to siphon money into her own bank account. : She was jailed for 21 months on 26 October after pleading guilty to six counts of false accounting and one count of transferring criminal property.
Fri, 2 Nov 2012 • Read more
Penalty charges for poor record keeping return
The redesigned scheme includes a step-by-step approach for businesses to keep information up to date and follows an extensive review of flaws found in the original pilot programme, which was stopped in February this year.: Greater emphasis will be placed on education and support and, from today, letters will be sent to companies at risk of keeping inadequate tax information. The Revenue will also be phoning businesses to discuss their records.
Fri, 2 Nov 2012 • Read more
Brand new Payroll World
The new-look magazine is even more focused on the professional challenges of payroll managers, while continuing to provide all the most relevant legislative updates, in-depth features and expert opinion. : *What's new?*
Thu, 1 Nov 2012 • Read more
Hurricane Sandy hits US payrolls
One restaurant owner in New Jersey @thirtyacres tweeted from his phone: “Does anyone know where we can access some interweb in #jerseycity? We need to process payroll!”: Business owner @noahroth told _PW_ that he and his partner, who is based in Long Island, have no electricity or internet and it is impossible to pay people. “I’m still working to make payment happen, but I’m not sure how it will turn out,” he said on Wednesday. “I’m not sure if employees have recourse in a force majeur situation."
Thu, 1 Nov 2012 • Read more
Quarter of small businesses oblivious to RTI
In a survey of 1,700 small firms, the FSB, which campaigns on behalf of small businesses, found only 16% of respondents were fully aware of RTI.: Worryingly, the research found more than 60% of firms had received no communication from HMRC about the changes.
Wed, 31 Oct 2012 • Read more
Cost of AE tops list of employer concerns
Aviva collected the views of corporate advisers in the UK and found employer worries about AE include: the cost of meeting the long-term compliance requirements (67%); ensuring they have an efficient way of integrating with payroll functions to gather accurate contribution, opt-out, and employee profile data (38%); and putting in place a compliant pension scheme in time for their staging date (33%). : Advisers say the immediate challenge of staging is currently more important for employers than the long-term compliance requirements, which Aviva says is understandable as many employers still have some time to go before they stage.
Tue, 30 Oct 2012 • Read more
RTI could lead to increase in tax tribunals
A recent ruling at the High Court has paved the way for HMRC to claim several months’ worth of penalty fines from an employer who argued he was not aware of the fines accruing.: Steve Wade, director at KPMG, said the case will have “relevancy” when PAYE reform comes into effect.
Mon, 29 Oct 2012 • Read more
HMRC wins Hok appeal
As reported in _Payroll World_ in March "here(here)":http://www.payrollworld.com/article/13704/magazine/hmrc-reviews-unfair-practice-of-letting-p35-late-penalties-build-up-before-issuing-them, Hok was sent a penalty notice after the late filing of its end-of-year P35. As the company had only one employee who had left mid-year, it didn’t realise it needed to file a return. HMRC didn’t send the notice until October, which increased the fine from £100 to £400.: At the time HMRC was accused of not acting “in good conscience,” by Geraint Jones QC, who said it was “no function of the state to use the penalty system as a cash-generating scheme.”
Mon, 29 Oct 2012 • Read more
HMRC offers 'hand holding' to encourage employers onto RTI pilot
Phil Nilson, HMRC RTI stakeholder engagement team, told delegates at the _Payroll World_ Autumn Update conference that the pilot had been a “runaway success” and that any problems encountered were PAYE issues that would have existed anyway or minor IT issues rather than unique RTI issues.: As a result of the confidence gained during the pilot HMRC is contacting all large employers and payroll bureaus to try and get them reporting RTI before the April 2013 deadline.
Fri, 26 Oct 2012 • Read more
Pensions Regulator: Automation key to success of AE
Neil Esslemont, head of industry liaison at the regulator, told delegates at the _Payroll World_ Autumn Update conference that not all suppliers were clear on pension reform.: “Automation is the key, how are you going to integrate AE into your other processes and especially think about how you are going to handle communication,” he said.
Fri, 26 Oct 2012 • Read more
Payroll fraud likely to increase as a result of austerity measures
Stuart Hall, managing director of esl, who lead a seminar at the _Payroll World_ Autumn Update Conference in London last month said it was “very likely” the estimated costs of combating fraud in 2012 would rise beyond £334m. : “While the majority of people have no inclination to get involved with high-level fraud, Payroll fraud is often guilt-free,” he said. “People are really struggling to pay bills at the moment, and pay increase is not really an option for many employers, so there is a huge amount of temptation.
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 • Read more
RTI negative values
Negative values were generally not allowed in the original RTI Full Payment Submission.: The update was raised at the _Payroll World_ Autumn Update Conference held in London last week.
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 • Read more
Form RTI 46 published
The form can be used to gather information about a new employee and can be used to help fill in the first Real Time Information Full Payment Submission (FPS) for an employee.: Employers need to keep the information recorded on the starter checklist record for two years.
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 • Read more
HMRC retrospectively rejects CIS payrolls from RTI pilot
Confusion has developed over recent months as to whether non-standard PAYE schemes are eligible for the RTI pilot or not.: In some cases HMRC has accepted CIS payrolls onto the pilot but is now rejecting them retrospectively.
Wed, 17 Oct 2012 • Read more
Third of companies staging early next year are unprepared for AE
Consultancy firm Mercer quizzed 300 companies for the research and also found there was no distinct pattern in choice of solution among those that had decided.: The range of pension solutions that companies can use to comply with auto-enrolment (AE) covers trust or contract based DC schemes, master trusts and low cost auto-enrolment providers such as NEST.
Tue, 16 Oct 2012 • Read more
Fake payslips used in mortgage fraud
The Bournemouth Daily Echo reports that Amanda Powis, described by prosecutor David Bartlett as “the principle defendant” in the case, failed to tell the Halifax bank that the man she was carrying out conveyancing for was her sick long-term partner. : The bank had already lent the man £149,500 to buy a house in Bournemouth. Powis then authorised a £13,000 payment to herself from the mortgage.
Fri, 12 Oct 2012 • Read more
HMRC system shutdown will affect PAYE operations this week
HMRC says that as part of its routine upgrade programme various IT systems will be offline until 8am on Monday morning.: A full list of affected systems is available "here(here)":http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageNoNavigation_ShowContent&id;=HMCE_MIG_009921&propertyType;=document#P116_9598
Thu, 11 Oct 2012 • Read more
‘Rights for shares’ announcement poorly received
The optional scheme, which would exempt between £2,000 to £50,000 in shares from capital gains tax, essentially means that while employees can potentially benefit from shares increasing in value they can also be fired at will, with no unfair dismissal rights.: In terms of payroll, clarification is being sought on whether there will be any relaxation of the PAYE/NIC rules on acquisition of the shares.
Wed, 10 Oct 2012 • Read more
Employers who operate specific PAYE schemes will not report RTI until 2014
HMRC is writing to all employers setting out how reporting PAYE in real time will affect them from April 2013.: While some schemes will begin reporting PAYE in real time from April, care and support employers, employers with religious objections to electronic communications and users of the special schemes for examination fees, electoral payments, direct payment and direct collection schemes will start reporting from April 2014.
Mon, 8 Oct 2012 • Read more
