Late Filing and Payments Penalties Delayed by HMRC

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said it is delaying its automatic in-year Pay as You Earn (PAYE) penalties for employers who have not yet fully grasped the new Real Time Information (RTI) system.

Rather than introducing the penalties on 6^th April 2014 as planned, the penalties will now be staggered to allow employers more time to get to grips with RTI, according to information released by the Taxman.

In April this year, in-year interest will be applied on in-year payments not made by the due date.  In October, automatic in-year late filing penalties will begin and in April 2015, automatic in-year late payment penalties will be introduced.

“The introduction of RTI is going extremely well for the majority of employers,” claimed Ruth Owen, HMRC’s Director General for Personal Tax.

“But there are still some who need a bit of time to adapt fully to the changes,” she added. “This additional time will give us the opportunity to ensure us that improvements to our internal systems are working, to learn from them and to provide better customer support to employers who need more time to adapt.”

Introduced last year, RTI has reportedly seen many difficulties since its launch - with claims that last year, tens of thousands of workers were mistakenly classed as unemployed and criticisms that it lacks comprehensive disaster recovery.

With these issues in mind, the new Universal Credit scheme is dependent on RTI. HMRC claims to have worked closely with the Department of Work and Pensions to ensure the operation is fully supported. 

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