HMRC Penalty Notice Advice from Clay Shaw Butler

By Mark Jones, director of Carmarthen-based Clay Shaw Butler chartered accountants and business consultants.

The taxman at HMRC regularly comes up with handy advice for anyone dealing with finance.

HMRC have published the latest issue of the Employer Bulletin with articles on a variety of topics relevant to employers.

One article advises that HMRC have issued the Quarter 1 late filing penalty notices, which cover the period 6 April to 5 July 2016 and have confirmed that these penalties will continue to be issued on a risk assessed basis.

HMRC have confirmed that a late filing penalty will generally not be charged for delays of up to three days after the statutory filing date, but that they may contact employers who persistently file after the statutory filing date but within three days, and they risk being considered for a penalty.

The Bulletin includes advice on how to appeal against a penalty online and states:

‘If you receive a penalty notice which includes multiple penalty defaults and you believe you had a reasonable excuse for each, make sure you appeal against all of the defaults shown on your penalty notice, including any default with a zero charge. If your appeal is accepted, the un-penalised default can then be applied to a later month, reducing the value of any future penalty charges you might incur.’

Please contact the team here at Clay Shaw Butler, or any other qualified accountant, if you would like help with payroll matters.

Meanwhile, there’s news about Statutory Maternity Leave and Childcare Vouchers.

Following the decision of an Employment Appeal Tribunal (Peninsula Business services v Donaldson) regarding Childcare Vouchers (CCVs), salary sacrifice and maternity leave, HMRC are considering what guidance is needed.

In the interim they have confirmed:

‘If CCVs are provided under an employment contract, outside the scope of a salary sacrifice scheme, then the vouchers must continue to be provided during maternity leave and other periods of family leave (other than unpaid parental leave). There is legal authority that whether an employer must provide CCVs to a person participating in a salary sacrifice scheme in respect of a period when they are on family leave, depends on the terms of the contract of employment. In the Peninsula case, the contract said that an employee on maternity leave would not continue to receive CCVs. The judgment is only of direct relevance in dealing with similar contractual exclusions. Employers are free to continue making payments into a salary sacrifice scheme to buy CCVs on behalf of an employee on family leave if they wish. Use of CCVs that employees already have is not affected by the judgment.’

Phishing is the fraudulent act of emailing a person in order to obtain their personal/financial information such as passwords and credit card or bank account details. These emails often include a link to a bogus website designed to encourage the unwary to enter their personal details.

The HMRC guidance is designed to help taxpayers to recognise genuine contact from HMRC, and how to tell when an email/text message is phishing/bogus

See link below for more information –

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/genuine-hmrc-contact-and-recognising-phishing-emails

In other news, the following Tax Events are due on 19th November 2016:

PAYE, Student loan and CIS deductions are due for the month to 5th November 2016.

This deadline is relevant to employers who have made PAYE deductions from their employees’ salaries and to contractors who have paid subcontractors under the CIS.

Employers are required to make payment to HMRC of the income tax, national insurance and student loan deductions.

Contractors are required to make payment to HMRC of the tax deductions made from subcontractors under the CIS.

Where the payment is made electronically the deadline for receipt of cleared payment is 22nd November 2016. In year interest will be charged if payment is made late. Penalties also apply.

You can find out more about money matters on the Clay Shaw Butler website (under our news for business section) –

http://www.clayshawbutler.com/news/latest-news-for-business

We have a strong and experienced team with great local knowledge all geared-up to helping you get the very best from your finances – whether that is as an individual or as a business.

We stay ahead of the game by putting great store by continual professional development for our staff.

With Investors In People status at Clay Shaw Butler, we care passionately about making sure our staff have all the tools they need to serve you, our customers.

Weblink –http://www.clayshawbutler.com

The team at Clay Shaw Butler can be contacted on 01267 228500.

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