PAYE40001 - employer returns: employer return – quality checks: introduction
An employer must only send an Employer Annual Return if they
had to fill in at least one Deductions Working Sheet (P11 or
equivalent) during the year. By law, they only need to complete a
Deductions Working Sheet where:
- an employee had given them a P45(3) with a date of leaving in the current tax year
or
- they pay someone at or above the Lower Earnings Limit
or
- they deduct tax on earnings
or
- they have received a code number for an employee or director and they operate it against their pay.
Where an employer is not required to fill in at least one
Deductions Working Sheet, they must contact their HMRC office (by
phone or in writing) as soon as they can and tell us that they are
not sending a return.
A limited company may need to report an amount in the 'CIS
deductions suffered' box and they will need to send in a P35, even
if all the other boxes of the form are 'nil'.
Where required an employer and (for years up to 2006-07) a
contractor must submit an annual return to HMRC. The return is a
summary of
- Tax and National Insurance deductions made from employees and subcontractors
- Total payments of tax credits made to certain employees
- Student Loan deductions made from employees who are student borrowers.
The return and relevant enclosures must be submitted on an
official employer annual return to an office responsible for
processing by the due date following the end of each tax year. No
substitute forms will be accepted. That date is the 19th of May
It is not HMRC policy and there is no statutory obligation to
acknowledge the receipt of employer returns. Further information is
provided in subject ‘Acknowledging Employer Returns’
PAYE40010.
Returns that are required at other times, for example for a
period to the date of cessation will normally be sent to the local
Debt Management Office who will apply the paper quality standard
checks to the returns and either accept and record receipt of the
return or return it to the submitter with a failure letter.
Forms P228 relating to these returns are printed in early
April and sent to the relevant DMB office.
The return and its associated form P228 will then be sent to
the Processing Office in early April to forward the P14s to NICO
and capture the return.
There are different types of return and some employers may
submit more than one return of the same or different type in any
year.
From April 2005 returns for year 2004/05 can be submitted in
parts when they are filed online or use Magnetic Media. If an
employer intends to send the whole return by paper, then the return
must be submitted as a complete return and not in
parts.
Responsibilities
On the date of receipt the processing office
must
- Date stamp the returns that are received
- Make the paper quality standard checks to ensure that the return or return part received is completed correctly
- Deal with any payments sent in with the returns
- Record the date of receipt of all parts of employer returns, which pass the quality standard checks, on the Employer Business Service (EBS) computer (except in- year returns that must be referred to the Debt Management Office)
Paper Quality Standard Checks
Each return must then go through certain quality standard
checks prior to recording receipt. These checks determine
- Whether the return has been made on correct stationary
- Whether the entries on the return are clear and legible
- If any action is required by the processing office before the return is recorded as received
- The type and classification of the return
For more information see subject ‘Paper Quality
Checks’
PAYE40050.
(This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the
Freedom of Information Act 2000)
Record Return Receipt
Details of how to record the receipt of a return are given in
PAYE41000 onwards
Data Protection Act
The provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) apply to
employer records in the same way as they apply to taxpayer records
on other HMRC computers.
