Two of my clients recently received a penalty of £400 each for not submitting P35 for 2013-2014.
Both companies are only one Director with 2 payments over the year. They did not take part in the RTI pilot scheme but made submissions using 12pay.
Did not find the final EPS of FPS submissions confirmations. For the one only there the program is showing submitted but the HMRC confirmation is missing. I have sent the final EPS know. Talked with HMRC and we are going to appeal these. I have started doing payroll from the last year and I am not much aware of the previous requirements. My boss is saying that RTI was not due but the penalty is for P35.
Have some of your clients had the same problem? What do you suggest for reasonable excuse?
Does HMRC have right to issue these penalties now and not the previous year?
Hi Nina I cant recall when the RTI deadline was for all payroll schemes to use RTI (assuming payroll was reportable) and when the fines were finally introduced to companies with less than 50 employees. I recall there was a lot of talk about the dates for fines and the actual start date kept being pushed back so I would research those two first of all - just doing a few searches on google should hopefully give you all you need there.
You say you use 12 pay - that does have a prompt to complete the RTI (even when it was just in the pilot phase) so it could well be that you had a problem with the internet access at the time you submitted the reports because if you can see them being sent but do not have the HMRC submission then they will not have received them. The submission acknowledgement is the key proof you need and usually arrives within seconds or minutes of the submission, unless of course there was an issue at HMRC when the software will keep trying for a few hours. You must always make sure you get this and if not - investigate why immediately. I would suggest you speak to the 12Pay helpdesk and see if they can advise you of any other ways of checking if this went and how to get the submission code.
If you were not due to/did not report via RTI then the P35 and P14s shouldve been completed. I did find this which gives you a start point for checking out the info you have:-
This note covers periods up to 2013-14 and employers who are not submitting under RTI in 2014-15. Under Real Time Information reporting (RTI) employers do not have to submit returns P35 and P14 online. Deadline for PAYE annual returns P35 and P14 online is 19 May 2014. If an employer has registered for PAYE but not paid any employees then it needs to notify HMRC that no annual return is due. Otherwise HMRC may issue a penalty and there will be time wasted in appealling it. Penalties for late PAYE returns This is slightly confusing: despite a massive overhaul of penalties in recent Finance Acts (see Tax penalties: late filing) PAYE annual returns are still under the old penalty regime. PAYE Annual returns For PAYE Annual Returns due the late filing penalty is £100 per month or part for up to 5 employees, £300 for 6 to 49 employees, £600 for 50-249 employees and then £300 for each 100 employees. Your fine seems high in comparison! That needs checking too. HMRC will write to employer before 19 June to advise them that no return has been received, it must be filed before 19 June in order to avoid higher penalties. You may appeal against a late filing penalty
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
I have just talked with HMRC regarding the one client. They have checked the penalty status and said I could ring the Management and Banking Department which is issuing this notices and ask them to suspend the penalty saying there is nothing to be paid. Client is in refund position now. They are closed today so will wait till Monday.
I got my appeal ready if they don't do anything. Will use the fact that HMRC did not notified us for the missing P35 by 19th of June 2014.
Hi Nina
HMRC will not chase you for missing bits of paperwork, usually only chase for cold hard cash Im afraid, so probably not worth covering that one in any appeal that goes in.
__________________
Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
