Employers’ penalties 2013-14 and beyond
HMRC recently confirmed that it has sent a small number of interim penalty letters to employers for the 2013-14 tax year in error.
HMRC’s analysis shows that this issue affects only employers who met their filing obligations for the tax year ending 5 April 2014 by sending:
- A month 12 Full Payment Summary with zero financial values, declaring final submission for the year.
- A month 12 Employer Payment Summary (EPS) with zero financial values, whether or not declaring final submission for the year.
- A month 12 EPS claiming CIS deductions suffered.
- An Earlier Year Update with zero financial values.
HMRC is in the process of updating the records of all employers affected and employers are not required to take any action at this time.
With effect from April 2014 in-year interest became payable on any in-year payments not made by the due date. For employers that pay monthly, the first payment of 2014 to 2015 was due on 19 May (or 22 May for employers who pay electronically). This also applies to late payments relating to the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).
In addition, from October 2014 – automatic in-year late filing penalties and from April 2015 – automatic in-year late payment penalties will apply.