February 2013 HMRC RTI Update - Deadline draws near

As we draw closer the April deadline for Real Time Information, HMRC predicts that by March 2013 over 6 Million employees will have their PAYE information reported in real time. HMRC will launch a major awareness campaign on March 11th via radio, newspaper, online advertising and Twitter Q&A sessions.

Given the importance of the April go-live date, HMRC will look to begin monitoring the service for compliance following this to ensure that companies are submitting both the PAYE information and Bacs data containing the cross-reference. As a minimum, the HMRC has reiterated the importance of sending your PAYE information from April, as this is key to the operation of the service. During this year, the significance of RTI to the introduction of Universal Credit will gain more focus from DWP and HMRC.

HMRC confirmed that the pilot has been broadly positive. Key points to remember:

• Data quality is important to prevent submissions being rejected. Check your data to ensure you have included all the mandatory fields for all employees (Name, Date of Birth, Gender, Address) - and that it is correct. Include the NINO where known.
• Check your submission to ensure that you have not included invalid characters such as ' or # in particular fields. Some characters may be permitted in some fields and not others. Please check to ensure you are using the most appropriate characters for each field.
• Ensure you have your correct Accounts Office Reference number.
• Check you have registered for the Government Gateway and your credentials are valid prior to submission.
• If you pay your employees by direct Bacs, ensure that your Bacs software is compliant and if so, that you've done the necessary to ensure the file definitions have been updated accordingly. You only need to include the cross reference (hash) where you make PAYE payments via Bacs.

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Bottomline Technologies HMRC RTI Updates is an ongoing series about the new HMRC RTI initiative that is being implemented in the UK. As and when new information emerges, an update email will be mailed to those registered to receive them and a new blog posted on the Bottomline Technologies website.

If you'd like to be kept updated on developments, then please register to receive the latest posts.

You can also view individual posts from the HMRC RTI Update Series or a consolidated view of all HMRC RTI related articles. More recent update posts are provided below: