Late payroll reporting - the consequences

What happens if you don’t report your payroll on time to HMRC?

Usually, if you are late reporting your payroll, your business will receive a fine.

However, HMRC won’t charge you a penalty if this is your first time – in the current tax year - that you have ever been late filing. Small businesses in particular, can get caught out by HMRC deadlines.

Or if you are a new employer or a small business and this is the first full submission payment (FSP) sent, you won’t receive a penalty if the submission is made within 30 days of the date you paid your employee.

But if you’re an established business and you do receive a late payment penalty notice, here’s what you should do:

lodge an appeal (if you believe the notice has been incorrectly issued)
you can do this through your online PAYE account
select a reason and if possible, avoid stating ‘other’ as this will cause delays
send a full report of the circumstances surrounding the late/delayed payment
follow-up, preferably by telephone call after 21 days

If you send an FPS in the same tax month as you paid your employees, you will be able to review the report in your HMRC online account from the 12th of the next tax month.

This is not possible if you send an FPS in the tax month after payday.

But if the penalty notice is expected, the best thing you can do is pay it as quickly as possible.

Managing your payroll in-house is becoming more and more complex. The introduction of tighter regulations and ever more stringent policies is becoming more onerous and costly for small to medium sized businesses. And especially for entrepreneurs.

Perhaps the time has now come to outsource your payroll services, especially if you're a small business as we have particular expertise in this arena.

Payroll services allow you the freedom to focus on growing your business saving you time and energy. The best way forward is to find one which offers a fully managed payroll service for start ups and small businesses so you have complete piece of mind.

We offer online payroll services throughout the UK and have the team, the time and the expertise to help you at Proto Payroll. For an informal chat, please email tom.hornbuckle@protopayroll.co.uk or complete a free quote using our payroll calculator on our website.