PAYE For Employer’s Webchat Service In The Business Tax Account
From 17th September, a webchat service has been added to the 2020-2021 Annual Statement page within the ePAYE online service.
If a green button appears at the bottom right hand side of this page, you can click to ask HMRC a question and start a conversation with one of their staff members on the Employers’ helpdesk (depending on availability).
This is part of a test and learn initiative where, after 3 months, HMRC will assess how successful this initiative has been and decide whether it will remain as a permanent feature.
So, if you need to contact HMRC about your PAYE for employers, why not try webchat as an alternative to telephone.
PAYE RTI Penalties
Late filing and late payment penalties will continue to be considered on a risk-assessed basis rather than issued automatically. The first penalties for this tax year (beginning 6 April 2020) were issued in September 2020.
Support is available for employers during the COVID-19 pandemic, including more time to appeal. Employers can now include problems caused by COVID-19 as the reasonable excuse that prevented them from meeting their tax obligation. For more information about this, go to https://www.gov.uk/tax-appeals/reasonable-excuses
Late Filing Penalties
HMRC will not charge penalties automatically if a Full Payment Submission (FPS) is filed late but within 3 days of the payment date and there remains no pattern of persistent late filing.
Employers are still required to file their submissions on time unless any of the circumstances set out in the
https://www.gov.uk/running-payroll/fps-after-payday
Employers who persistently file after the statutory filing date but within three days will continue to be monitored and may be contacted or considered for a late filing penalty as part of our risk-based approach.
HMRC’s Business Tax Account
The Business Tax Account is an online account which brings together all of your business taxes in one place – including Pay as You Earn for Employers.
From one sign in, you can view a summary of your tax position, manage your information such as address, telephone number and email address as well as make payments to HMRC.
To find out more about the benefits of using the Business Tax Account and how to set it up, go to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-hmrcs-business-tax-account
Changes To HMRC Opening Hours
At the start of the pandemic they reduced their phone helpline opening hours to 8am-4pm
Hours are now extended to 8am – 6pm.