HMRC to stagger real-time information penalties

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced it will stagger the introduction of real-time information (RTI) penalties.

Its new automatic in-year Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) penalties for late filing and late payment and in-year interest, which is charged on tax and national insurance contributions that are paid late during the year, were due to begin from 6 April 2014.

The new timetable will be:

  • April 2014 – in-year interest on any in-year payments not made by the due date.
  • October 2014 – automatic in-year late filing penalties.
  • April 2015 – automatic in-year late payment penalties.

Ruth Owen, director general for personal tax at HMRC, said: “The introduction of RTI is going extremely well for the majority of employers, but there are still some which need a bit of time to adapt fully to the changes.

“This additional time will give us the opportunity to ensure that improvements to our internal systems are working, to learn from them and to provide better support to employers that need more time to adapt.”