Your 2008-09 Employer Annual Return

The 19 May deadline for sending your 2008-09 Employer Annual Return (P35 and P14s) has now passed. So, if you have not sent your Return already, send it as soon as you can as penalties are now beginning to accrue. Not sending your Return also means that we cannot update your employees’ records, which can delay us making any repayments to them too. And remember, if you have 50 or more employees, you must send your Return online otherwise further penalties will be incurred.

If you do not need to send a Return, please tell your HMRC office by phone or in writing straightaway. This can prevent you from receiving unnecessary reminders and penalty notices.

£75 tax-free!

If you have not sent your 2008-09 Return and have fewer than 50 employees this is your last chance to get a tax-free payment for filing your complete Return online. This applies even if a payroll agent or bureau files on your behalf. Remember though, you will not get a payment if there were no financial entries on either the P14s or P35 and the Return was not due. The payment will also be reduced if there are any outstanding PAYE underpayments due.

Help with your Return

February’s Employer Bulletin told you how to get your 2008-09 Return ready to send. And the PAYE Online pages also have details of all you need to know about sending your 2008-09 Return online if you have not already done so.

Ceased being an employer during 2009-10?

If you stop being an employer during the tax year, you do not have to wait until the end of the tax year to finalise matters with us. As soon as you cease, let us know. We will ask you to send your 2009-10 Return straight away so we can finalise your tax affairs for you. If you need any help remember, you can contact HMRC on 0845 366 7816. And please remember to include the date that you ceased on your Return.

Sending us your 2009-10 Employer Annual Return

Under Government proposals, most of you will have to send your 2009-10 Employer Annual Return online, regardless of how many employees you have. If you have not yet started to send your Return online, you will find it easier if you prepare early and use either commercial software or HMRCs free Online Return and Forms product. You can also use the Employer CD-ROM to calculate your tax and National Insurance during the year, starting from 6 April 2009.

And you will be able send your 2009-10 Return online from the 2010 CD-ROM if

• you use the P11 Calculator (on 2009 CD-ROM) to calculate pay and tax for all your employees from 6 April 2009, and
• you are using the P11 Calculator for nine current employees or less at 5 April 2010

Backing up your data

We told you in the April 2008 Employer Bulletin about changes that were taking place in October 2008 to our free Online Returns and Forms– PAYE product. This advised you that if you used this service to store older information or any incomplete or unsubmitted forms, you would no longer be able to access them after this system upgrade. Please be aware that this is an annual process. So if you have stored any PAYE End of Year, Expenses and Benefits or In-Year forms that are for the 2005-06 tax year or you have stored any incomplete forms or unsubmitted forms (irrespective of the tax year or date they were created) you may wish to consider saving these locally on your own systems as these will be no longer available after October 2009.