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Your business may well be stretched right now, the National  Minimum Wage rates rose by over 10% from 1 April and other input costs have increased by even more, particularly food and energy. It may be tempting to use the amounts deducted from your payroll to pay pressing bills, but that is not a good idea.

If payroll deductions are not paid over to HMRC on time – (by 22nd of each month) late payment interest is charged at 7%.

In addition to the late payment interest, late payment penalties are charged as follows:

Number of late payments in 
tax year

First penalty

Additional penalty after 6 months         

Additional penalty
after 12 months

1

None

5%

5%

2–4

1%

5%

5%

5–7

2%

5%

5%

8–10

3%

5%

5%

11 or more

4%

5%

5%

You won‘t receive a penalty if you are late with just one PAYE payment to HMRC in the tax year, as long as the amount due is paid within six months of the due date. But if you need to make monthly payments the penalties will soon mount up where the timing of the regular payments slips for even one day.

If you are struggling to pay over your PAYE to HMRC on time, you should apply for a time to pay (TTP) agreement through your online business tax account on gov.uk. This can help you spread your PAYE debt over six months.

The TTP agreement will be granted automatically if the following conditions are met:

  • All PAYE and CIS returns have been submitted;
  • PAYE debt is less than £15,000;
  • No other tax debts exist;
  • The application is made within 35 days of the date the PAYE was due; and
  • TTP plan will pay off the debt within six months.

If the above conditions can‘t be met you should contact HMRC on the payment support service: 0300 200 3825 to negotiate a TTP agreement.

About the Author

Paul Newbold Image

Paul Newbold

Partner
After qualifying with KPMG where he gained significant audit experience, Paul joined Torgersens in 1991 and became the firm’s audit partner in 2000. Paul employs his broad range of financial skills to provide commercial and accounting advice to a range of owner-managed businesses in the independent retail, education and professional services sectors. He also has extensive experience dealing with charities, Registered Social Landlords and not-for-profit organisations and co-operatives.   Outside of work, Paul likes to visit Eastern France and South-West German and read novels by David Morrell, Michael Blake and Harper Lee. He also likes watching films, his favourite is The Shawshank Redemption.

To get in touch please e-mail paul.newbold@torgersens.com.

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