With less than six months to go, what next?

This is our fifth eshot in the series on Real Time Information (RTI) for employers and pension providers (employers).

In less than six months the majority of employers are likely to be submitting their first full payment submission under RTI.

HMRC is writing to every employer during October to kick off its awareness program – that is over 1.4 million employers. It will be providing information on what employers need to do to prepare for the new way of reporting PAYE data from April 2013.

HMRC will then write to employers to invite them to join RTI. The majority of employers will be invited to join in April 2013, which will leave only the very large employers to join later in the year so that they are ready to submit their PAYE data before October 2013.

If you haven't already started to 'clean' your employee data to ensure its accuracy, now is the time to do it. As HMRC will tell you – "don't put it off!" Are your Steve's really Steve, Steven or Stephen? Is Jane actually Jayne? Should Amir be Aamir? Or is John Peter Smith legally Peter John Smith?

What of the pilot? HMRC says it has gone well with 1,431 PAYE schemes now being submitted under RTI (as at 9 September 2012), which amounts to 1.91 million employees. Some of those on the pilot have raised some issues, for example:

  • "it is an onerous task to enter the range of hours for all employees when only a small number are likely to be claiming tax credits"
  • "P46 statement information still has to be obtained for all new starters, even where they provide a P45"
  • "we now have to report details for all employees, even where they are paid below the lower earning limit".

These are issues that might impact on all employers.

What next?

Our next eshot will provide you with more information about what will change and the implications of getting it wrong.

Top tip

Employers should make sure that they have reviewed their payroll information to ensure data quality and payroll alignment and start to communicate RTI across the internal groups to those who may be affected, for example payroll, HR and finance.

It isn't too late to join the pilot, but think about it carefully. There is more information on HMRC's website at: www.hmrc.gov.uk/rti/joining-pilot.htm

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.