Micro-Employers To Be Fined For Late RTI Payroll Submission

Recent guidance changes talked of repercussions when employers fail to report payroll information on time.

Beginning 6^th April 2016, HMRC updated rules regarding late RTI payroll submission for micro-employers. This means those with nine employees or fewer will now be subject to late RTI payroll submission fines.

What are the changes?

Penalties for late RTI submissions have been in practice, in some form, since 2014. Until 5^th April 2016, this included a concession which applied to micro-employers. This concession meant that, if accurate forms were submitted to HMRC online by the end of the tax month in which they’d paid employees, micro-employers wouldn’t be charged a penalty.

This concession was abolished on 6^th April 2016 and micro-employers must now send RTI forms to HMRC on or before the day their employees are paid.

What this means for employers

You must submit complete and accurate RTI forms to HMRC online either on or before your staff’s payday. Failure to do this will result in penalties, starting at £100 a month – although employers won’t be charged penalties in their first year.

However, HMRC have said employers who persistently take advantage of this one year leniency “may be considered for a penalty”.

How can I make sure my payroll is completed on time?

In order to avoid the penalties that could be incurred under HMRC’s changes, it’s more important than ever to get your payroll in on time.

You can complete payroll by yourself, or, if you’re finding it a struggle to manage, you can outsource your payroll. This will free up your time and means that you only have to email over your employees’ hours, rather than completing the whole payroll process yourself.

Are you the owner of a micro-business that’s going to be affected by HMRC’s updated guidance? Tell us your thoughts about the change in the comment section below.

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About The Author

Karl Bilby

We work very closely with our expert accountants to bring you the latest factually correct tax and accounting news. We also enjoy writing about small business news that we hope you find useful!