The Seven Day
Deadline
Under
RTI, electronic returns must be made within seven days. Unless you were in one
of the pilots for the scheme that have been doing this since November, this
will be a big change from the former annual reports required.
According
to the Forum of Private Businesses, many small businesses are still unaware of
these new rules. However, HMRC is writing to all employers to explain what they
will have to do. They have also published information about it on their
website, and have made an explanatory video that is available on You Tube.
How RTI Will Help
Business and the Economy
RTI
should make records at HMRC more accurate, so that employers can be given the
right tax codes to use and people don’t pay too little or too much tax. HMRC
also claims that it will save employers some of the money currently spent on
administration at the year end. Whether it does or not, all employers must
comply with the new arrangements by October 2013.
Lin
Homer has been Chief Executive of HMRC since January 2012. She said, "RTI delivers on all fronts.
Business costs will be cut by £300 million a year, employees will be taxed more
accurately and fraud and error in the tax credit system will be reduced by
hundreds of millions of pounds every year."
Get Help if you
Need it
It
is therefore even more important than ever that your own payroll information is
accurate and up to date at all times. If your outsourced bookkeepers are dealing with
it, there should be no problem. There are still concerns that some small
businesses will find it difficult to meet the deadlines after each payroll is
run. But Lin Homer believes “If your data is
in good shape then it’s going to be easy for you to access RTI. A small
business that is not moving into the digital world is not doing itself any
favours.”
So
if you have any concerns about your ability to comply with RTI, you need to act
now. Why not get together with your outsourced bookkeepers to discuss how
they can help.
