Employer Annual Return
HMRC have confirmed that employers that have not yet filed their 2010-11 Employer Annual Return will be charged a late filing penalty. The deadline for submitting both forms P14 and P35 was 19 May 2011. Employers that didn’t file online before the deadline or did not receive confirmation that their return was accepted by 23:59 by Thursday 19 May 2011, will be issued with a late filing penalty.
Employers are reminded that the extra statutory concession which gave grace from certain late filing penalties was withdrawn on 1 April 2011. Employers will also be liable to a penalty if they file their annual return on paper (with some very limited exceptions, such as not using the internet due to religious beliefs). Employers exempt from filing online must have ensured that their annual return was with HMRC by the time the post was opened on Monday 23 May.
Last year, no penalty was charged for employers with five or fewer employees. These transitional arrangements have now ended. Employers that have not yet filed their 2010-11 employer annual return are encouraged to do so as soon as possible in order to limit the amount of penalties incurred.