We are currently appealing against penalties imposed on a client for late filing of PAYE returns last year on the grounds that, despite several notices sent to the tax office that the client had moved, the tax office had consistently refused to amend their records. Accordingly, they had sent reminders to the old address. Their reason for refusing the appeal is basically that they are not required by law to issue reminders. The lesson is that you can expect no equitable treatment from these civil despots who can do what they want (or not) when they want (or not) and charge you in any event.
To hopefully avoid this recurring we show below the various deadlines for employers to send in their end of year returns. If a PAYE scheme in the name of your business has been registered at any time but you have nothing to report then we recommend that you should contact the tax office before the deadline of 19th May to inform them that no return is due under that scheme. You should not rely on the scheme being closed unless you have written confirmation from the tax office.
Note that as the deadline for payments is a Sunday then the tax office is requiring cleared funds by the previous Friday. This is contrary to the policy that we would have expected the tax office to adopt but is indicative of their current attitude to their “customers”.
Deadline
- 19 April – Outstanding PAYE tax and Class 1 NICs – postal payments must reach your HMRC Accounts Office
- 22 April – Outstanding PAYE tax and Class 1 NIC – cleared electronic payments reach HMRC bank account. As 22nd April 2012 is a Sunday, the payment will need to clear into the HMRC account by Friday 20th unless you are able to arrange a Faster Payment to clear on or by the 22nd.
- 19 May – File your Employer Annual Return (P35 and P14s)
- 31 May – Give each relevant employee a form P60
- 6 July – File expenses and benefits annual return (forms P11D, P9D and P11D(b)) if applicable – give a copy to your employees
- 19 July – Class 1A NICs – postal payments must reach your HMRC Accounts Office
- 22 July – Class 1A NICs – cleared electronic payments must reach HMRC bank account
If you want any further advice on this please do not hesitate to contact us.