Real Time Information

“The RTI scheme will see all payroll data sent to HM Revenue and Customs at every pay date, rather than annually. This will, it is hoped, streamline the current organisation of PAYE, and reduce tax errors.

Businesses, however, may see increased resources needed at their scheduled pay dates, and potentially costly upgrades to existing software to meet the new system’s requirements.

This could have a considerable impact on the payroll teams or person responsible for payroll, in businesses of all shapes and sizes across the region. But you can prepare now.

In the first instance, all data held on payroll records must be accurate and also in the correct format to match HMRC data. Aligning the employee data with that held at HMRC is the first step to take to ensure you are prepared.

A pilot project was launched last month to test the new software installed by HMRC to cope with the additional demand on their systems. Hopefully this will tease out any sticking points and problems with the new process – although in my experience, there are always significant issues that arise with changes such as these.

RTI will be rolled out from April next year. All businesses are expected to be using the new reporting method by October 2013.”

Julie Mason, Payroll Manager
PM+M