HMRC clarifies RTI NI number issues

HMRC has been forced to issue a clarification about national insurance number verification requests after being contacted by worried employers trying to meet the Real Time Information (RTI) requirements.

The employers have been receiving rejections in response to their requests. This, says HMRC, is correct. They are being rejected because the employers are sending their requests in before they have made their first full payment submission (FPS).

“You cannot send a national insurance number verification request (NVR) until you have started to send PAYE information in real time,” HMRC advises. “Wait two weeks after sending your first FPS before sending an NVR.”

It points employers to its guidance, Making Sure You Use the Correct National Insurance Number

HMRC also says that it has been receiving phone calls from employees trying to find out what their NI number is after being told by their employer that they must have one for when the employer submits the RTI returns.

Although HMRC does want employers to provide correct NI numbers in their PAYE submissions, it stresses that there will be occasions when an NI number is not available. For example, the employee will not have been allocated one if they are under 16 years old.

Again, it points employers towards the NI guidance to make it clear that they should leave the NI number field blank and not be tempted to fill it in with a dummy or incorrect number.

Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.

Posted byAnn TigheinPAYEPayrollPayroll SoftwarePRSIReal time informationRTIWages

RTI: STARTER PROCESS AMENDED

HMRC has amended its guidance on the starter process to help increase accuracy for individuals with a P45 and more than one job. In such cases, instead of selecting statement C and operating code BR, the employer should select statement B and operate the tax code on the P45 – unless the tax code on the P45 is BR, 0T or D prefix – in which case statement C would still apply.

Individuals without a P45 or with an old P45 will continue to complete the starter declaration to confirm their employment situation. The full guidance on the starter process will be updated and available from 6 April 2013 here.

Please be aware the guidance linked above will not be updated to reflect this change until 6 April 2013. HMRC acknowledges that the starter process guidance has gone through several iterations and for 2013-14 says it will accept if an employer’s payroll does not follow this new process.

Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.

Read more at www.hmrc.gov.uk >

Posted byAnn TigheinHMRCPAYEPayrollPayroll SoftwarePRSIRTISMEWages

BrightPay 13/14 is Now Available

We are delighted to announce that BrightPay 13/14 has obtained full HMRC recognition for RTI submissions and is now available to download.

Preparing for RTI

From 6th April, all payments to employees must be reported to HMRC using RTI. Although we have worked hard to make your RTI experience with BrightPay as painless as possible, there are a few things you need to do before your first 13/14 payroll run to ensure that it all runs smoothly.

1. Make sure that all employees are included in your payroll before you send your first RTI submission.

   • If you run payroll for both weekly and monthly employees, your first weekly FPS submission will include the employment details for the monthly staff, even if they have not yet been paid.
   • If you have imported from BrightPay 12/13 and an employee joins in 12/13 after the import, make sure you add this employee to your 13/14 payroll.
   • Unlike previous years, you must include all employees, including nannies and domestic staff, casual employees, part-time staff, students working in their vacation and those below the Lower Earnings Limit.
2. Make sure you know your Accounts Office Reference as HMRC requires this to be included in RTI submissions. If you have your yellow Employer Payment Booklet issued by HMRC, the Accounts Office Reference will be on the front cover in the top right hand corner. Here is a useful link on the HMRC website to help you find your Accounts Office Reference.
3. In so far as possible, try to ensure that the information you have entered in BrightPay for each of your employees is accurate. To help with this, we have created a Request Form that you can have your employees complete and return to you.

RTI Examples

It is important that you understand how BrightPay handles Full Payment Submissions (FPS) and in particular your first FPS which acts as an alignment submission. This understanding is best served by a couple of examples.

One of the really nice things about BrightPay is that until an RTI submission is sent, it will be automatically updated with any changes you make to employer, employee or payment details. Let's say you only add your monthly paid employees in BrightPay after already finalising your first week. In this case, the pending first FPS will be automatically updated to include the details for the monthly employees. Similarly, if you discover that the NINO for one of your employees is incorrect, you can simply correct the employee record and the pending FPS will be automatically updated with the correct NINO. You do not have to process the payroll again or prepare the FPS again for these changes to be made.

The same automatic updating applies to other RTI submission types as well (EAS, NVR and EPS). Once they are created and until they are sent, any changes you make to employer or employee information will be automatically applied.

Reporting and Paying HMRC in Real Time: Getting it Right

HMRC have published a useful one page leaflet entitled "Reporting and paying HMRC in real time: getting it right". Download it here.

Any Questions?

We will be delighted to help you with any questions you may have. You can call us on 0845 3004304.

Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.

Posted byPaul ByrneinHMRCPAYEPayroll SoftwarePRSIRTIWages

RTI - New Employers may opt out

From 05th November new employers registering with HMRC will automatically join RTI by default.

There will be instances where employers will not want to join RTI immediately therefore employers can opt out.  Reasons for opting out may include;

• The employer already operates other PAYE schemes
• They may wish to use software from a company which is not yet RTI ready
• The employer indicates that they are entitled to claim exemption from online filing and will need to operate PAYE manually. Exemptions will be considered in line with current guidance

These opt outs will only be available between 5 November 2012 and 5 April 2013.

Further information is available from HMRC at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/pommanual/PAYE5011.htm

BrightPay 2013/14 will be RTI ready. All necessary functionality to operate RTI for your payroll will be provided in the same simple and user-friendly manner you've come to expect. BrightPay 2013/14 will be available to download for new and existing customers before April 2013. We'll keep you up to date between now and then with the latest information, including an overview of how RTI will work in BrightPay 2013/14.

Please be assured that there will be NO price increase for BrightPay 2013/14 or additional charges for RTI functionality.

Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.

Posted byKaren McDarbyinHMRCPAYEPRSIRTI