Nearly all employers now report their payroll information to HMRC via Real Time Information (RTI). The introduction of RTI is widely acknowledged to be the biggest change to PAYE since 1944. Most employers started reporting via RTI in 2013 and HMRC has since conducted a post-implementation review. The resulting report was published last week and this shows what went well, and also what didn’t go so well. It explains the ways in which government departments use the information that RTI gives them, and how it may be employed in the future.
Category: payroll
Payroll Changes in the Autumn Budget
Last week, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, delivered his Autumn Budget speech. From a payroll perspective, there were no big surprises.
Why Universal Credit Depends on Real Time Information
Universal Credit is a new payment that replaces 6 benefits, including Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. It has been under the spotlight recently, with MPs pointing out some of its problems and calling for a delay in the planned roll-out. Universal Credit is designed to reduce automatically if an employee’s income increases and, for this reason, its success is dependent on employers reporting their payroll information via Real Time Information.
Read more Why Universal Credit Depends on Real Time Information
Load, Aim, Hire!
I was recently asked what advice I’d give somebody who is starting a new business and hiring his or her first employee. As you’d probably expect from someone whose business is payroll software, my answer was about the importance of organising your payroll.
What Is a P45?
Last week, comedian and prankster, Simon Brodkin, handed Theresa May a piece of paper with “P45” written in large print at the top of the page. But what is a P45 and what is the connection with leaving your post?
Searching for Payroll
If you are an employee with a query about your pay, you may be told to check with payroll. Googling the word “payroll” will bring up a list of companies but, when you ring them, you’ll discover that none of them can help. So, how can it be possible that your trusted search engine has let you down?
Frequently Asked Pension Question: 1% of What?
When business owners set up a company pension scheme they need to make a few choices, including deciding how much the business needs to pay into the pension. Many employers understand that this must be at least 1% but few seem to know that there is more to decide than the percentage: do they want 1% of the total wages, 1% of qualifying earnings, or something else?
Announcing FreeAgent Integration
FreeAgent is the latest on the list of popular accounting system we integrate with. Some years ago, I had a meeting with a senior figure from a large, accounting software firm. He said he thought we were making a mistake by taking what he called the Swiss position.
Duplicate Employments
Each time staff are paid, employers must send data to HMRC in the form of Real Time Information (RTI). The design of RTI has a few quirks. In this post, I’ll explain a snag known as the duplicate employments problem.
The Trouble with the EYU
When Real Time Information was first introduced, we were told it would save businesses hundreds of millions of pounds, make tax more accurate, reduce tax credits over-payments, enable dynamic adjustment of Universal Credits, move the planets into alignment and bring about world peace. Okay, maybe not the last two.
With such ambitious aims and a very short timescale for implementation, nobody should be surprised that the result wasn’t perfect.