Could you be affected by HMRC mistakes?

Workers across the UK could be getting an unwelcome surprise from HMRC as it has come to light that around 3.5 million individuals haven’t paid enough tax in the 2013 – 2014 tax year.  This money will have to be re-paid to HMRC leaving many feeling out of pocket.

A further 2 million people have already paid too much tax, meaning a total of 5.5million people will be affected by the errors.  This total figure is up 0.3 million on the number of errors made the previous year, something that many feel that this is unacceptable following the £270 million introduction of RTI.

A spokesman for HMRC has said “Most people pay the right tax throughout the year, but there will always be a small percentage of the 41 million people in PAYE who have underpayments or overpayments at year end.”  They added “The effect of Real Time Information is not reflected yet as it has not bedded in, but over time RTI will help to reduce the number of cases that have to be reconciled”

The staged roll-out of RTI (and some employers not having the correct systems in place) does also mean that some businesses have not used RTI for the full year.  One thing is certain that the pressure will be on HMRC to get information as accurately as possible in this tax year and this could mean coming down harder on any companies not complying with HMRC legislation.

IRIS was one of the first payroll providers to be included in the RTI trial and understands the importance of sending the correct information to HMRC each month.  Not complying with RTI will not only result in HMRC fines but could also mean employees getting unexpected tax bills to cope with – not a good way to keep employees happy.

If you are worried about RTI compliance please contact IRIS on 0344 815 5700. IRIS payroll software has submitted RTI returns for more than 200,000 companies and the range of HMRC recognised IRIS solutions includes IRIS Basics which is free for up to 10 employees, IRIS Payroll Business, which offers more advanced features and the cloud-based Kashflow Payroll.

*Based on figures showing total number of PAYE reference numbers using IRIS payrolls.