Do it Online
Online filing peaks
At the time of going to print 545,000 employers had registered to use PAYE Online for Employers. Most employers file online between 10am and 4pm. If you can, try to send us your Return outside those hours, you might get a faster service. And it will help if you avoid the peak filing days, usually 18 and 19 May, as well.
£250 tax-free
Small employers (fewer than 50employees) who file their 2004-05 Return online successfully can get £250 tax-free. Small employers whose Returns are accepted, can deduct (self-serve) their £250 payment from a future payment to IR.
When we process the Return information later, we will credit the £250 to your payment record and send you written confirmation. If you haven’t already self-served, you can ask us then to send you a cheque for the balance, after any outstanding debts have been settled.
We have introduced legislation so that we will not make the tax-free payments for filing an Employer’s Annual Return online in the tiny minority of cases where we suspect the system is being abused. The changes also clarify how the £250 payment will be applied or paid. If you ask for a repayment, we will set the £250 against any outstanding arrears of, for example, tax and National Insurance, and then repay the balance.
Quality checks
When you send your Return online, our computer will do some quality checks immediately. You will get an on-screen message if your Return has been accepted (passed our checks). Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) users will get an email.
We will also tell you if your Return fails these checks. If you filed:
- online, you will get an on-screen message
- via EDI, we will send you an email.
If your Return is on paper, and it fails our checks, we will send it back to you.
Either way, you must put your Return right and send it back by 19 May. The rest of our quality checks will be done later. So we might still contact you about your Return, ask you to put right any problems and resubmit it. If this happens you will still be entitled to the tax-free payment for filing online and we will not send you a late filing penalty if your original return was filed by 19 May. Keep a copy (it doesn’t have to be a paper copy) of the information you sent in case we have any questions later. Don’t phone to check the progress of your Return. We will contact you if there are any problems with it.
Sending the Return in parts
If you have to send your P14s separately from your P35, you can send them in online in batches (parts). Each time you send in a part, you will get a message telling you the whole Return has been accepted or rejected. This message refers only to the part just sent. Do not misinterpret this message as a successful submission of the whole Return. Every part of your Return (P35 and P14s) must be sent and accepted to get the £250 payment. We must have the whole Return by 19 May to avoid a late filing penalty.
Recently registered for PAYE Online for Employers?
When you activate PAYE Online for Employers all the tax code notifications etc we would normally post to you go to your secure mailbox, unless you opt out of receiving them online. See page 10 of February 2005 Bulletin for how to opt out or the Online filing handbook.
