Get the picture about filing in-year forms online

'Some people think it’s complicated to send starter and leaver information online. But it isn’t, and the fact is that every day technology is making life easier for all of us…'

So says the presenter of our in-year online video, on your new Employer CD-ROM.

But don’t just take our word for it. On the video, hear from employers about how doing business online helps them. We give you clear responses to some of the reasons employers have given us for not wanting to file online. And we tell you why you should join the million employers who already send their submissions online.

As our presenter says: 'What’s not to like?'

To see the video, go to the 'Online Services' section on the CD-ROM and click on 'Video – Something’s Coming……'

Quality checks for in-year forms have started

This April, we introduced quality checks for online submissions of starter and leaver information on forms P45 and P46. This is aimed at improving the quality of the data held by us and employers. This will result in fewer queries for you to deal with.

Any in-year forms you send us that do not meet our quality checks are being sent back to you to be put right and that could mean that it takes longer before your employees are paying the right amount of tax. Check our list of common errors to help you make sure that what you send us passes our quality checks.

We have introduced these checks a year before employers with 50 or more employees have to start sending in-year forms online, so you have a chance to get used to the new process.

You must make sure that any payroll software you use includes the new quality checks. Talk to your payroll software provider if you are not sure.

We can help you do PAYE online

We have specialist people all over the country who can give you all the support and advice may need to send PAYE information online.

Christine Curry from Wigan is one of them. 'If you aren’t already sending your PAYE Returns and forms online, we can help you,' she says. 'As well as one-to-one support in person or over the phone, we run free half-day workshops in addition to shorter presentations that will really help you to get started online.'

And she adds: 'There’s lots of useful information on your Employer CD ROM, but we can give you practical, personal help so do get in touch.'

Sending PAYE forms online is quick, secure and convenient. It cuts out postal delays and the time it takes us to process paper forms manually. That means more up-to-date records and tax codes for your employees and fewer enquiries for you to handle.

If you have 50 or more employees, you should already be filing your Employer Annual Return online and you will have to send employee starter and leaver details online on forms P45 and P46 from April 2009. We will be introducing penalties if you do not do so.

Getting National Insurance numbers right!

From now and right through the summer, we will be reviewing employee records that we hold that do not have the employee’s NINO and we will be trying to find the actual NINO for those individuals. A NINO is our main way of identifying customers on our records.

Where we find a person’s NINO - or if we find that you are using the wrong one - we will send you a form P46-5T telling you what the correct NINO is. You must use this in all future dealings with us about that individual. You may get some notices at times when you are particularly busy, like when you are preparing to send us your Employer Annual Return. You do not have to deal with the notices we send straight away, but please deal with them as soon as you can to help make sure your employees’ records are correct.

We are sorry that we will be sending you these notifications on paper, rather than online.

New for October 2008 – Non-submitted and incomplete forms

HMRC are moving to a new, improved Online ‘Forms and Returns service – PAYE service’ in October 2008. We will be transferring across the data you have already sent us over the past three years but removing any incomplete or non-submitted in-year or end of year forms that you have stored on the current service. You should review any of these items, archive or cleanse as appropriate and remove or submit them before we make the switch.

Some changes we are making to our systems and processes

Those that we are already delivering

We are changing the way that we hold taxpayer records and have also started to make changes to the way we process the data that you send to us. These improvements are key to our efforts to handle customer queries more quickly and help people to pay the right amount of tax first time. The changes will lead to the identification of some individuals who have previously been paying the wrong amount of tax and they may ask you for an explanation of how any tax under or overpaid has occurred.

We recommend that you refer any queries of this nature to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

And in the near future

We are introducing a new system for processing PAYE in October 2008. This is the biggest change to the way we process PAYE records in 25 years. As a result of the change we will have a more comprehensive view of the individual’s PAYE and you will benefit from having fewer queries from both HMRC and your employees. As part of this process we will be transferring data from our old systems, something we expect will take us a couple of weeks. During this time, our staff will have ‘view only’ access to an individual’s PAYE information, but we will be unable to update our records until the transfer is complete. Inevitably, we will have to spend some time and effort catching up with our processing. And whilst we will make every effort to minimize any impact on employers and individuals, there may be some delay in our responses to you.

After we have implemented the new system, we will be able to manage all employments and pensions that each employee has from a single customer record that can be accessed by our staff throughout the UK. If you have queries on Policy or Procedural issues, you should continue to contact the Employer Helpline on Tel 08457 143 143.

Date of birth and gender

From April 2009, you will have to show the date of birth and gender on all P45s, P46s and pension information.

We strongly recommend you start checking that you have the date of birth and gender details for your employees now. The date of birth helps us to match employee information with their records, especially if there is no NINO or a NINO is wrong.

Our online system now validates the date of birth and gender, where you are already giving us the details.