If you’ve taken on employees, or plan to take on employees, then you’ll need to register for pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) – find out when and how to register for PAYE here
Once you’re PAYE registered, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will expect you to submit real-time information (RTI) for your employees on a monthly basis – this gives HMRC details of the income tax collected and paid for the people on your team.
What if I have no employees?
You can end up in a situation where you’re registered for PAYE as a business, but have no employees. You may have downsized the business, your team may have moved on to new roles elsewhere, or you may not have filled the team roles you’d planned for.
Whatever the reason, HMRC will still expect you to submit your RTI on a monthly basis – even when you have no employees and no PAYE has been collected.
And you’ll also need to submit an annual summary of your PAYE, detailed that RTI across the year – again, even if you now have no employees on the payroll.
What happens if I don’t submit my RTI?
If you don’t send HMRC the RTI that’s needed, you’ll have to pay a surcharge. This is a penalty that you’ll be charged for every month you’re late with this information.
Failing to pay your surcharge means you can soon rack up some fairly hefty penalties – money that could be more positively spent on the business, rather than going to HMRC.
The current penalties are:
|
Number of employees |
Monthly penalty |
|
1 to 9 |
£100 |
|
10 to 49 |
£200 |
|
50 to 249 |
£300 |
|
250 or more |
£400 |
Find out more about the penalties for late submission of PAYE and RTI here
If you need help with your PAYE and RTI, give us a call on 01454 300 999, or drop an email to info@fd-works.co.uk
Find out more about the FD Works’ approach to finance at fd-works.co.uk