HMRC have admitted that they have issued around 12,500 penalty letters to employers in error.

I understand that the penalties were issued in relation to employer end of year PAYE returns because the Inland Revenue’s computer system did not recognise returns had been submitted in four situations as follows: –

• A month 12 Full Payment Summary with zero financial values, declaring final submission for the year
• A month 12 Employer Payment Summary (EPS) with zero financial values, whether or not declaring final submission for the year
• A month 12 EPS claiming CIS deductions suffered
• An “Earlier Year Update” with zero financial values

This just leads to further speculation that HMRC RTI software is not working correctly and yet again causing problems for the British taxpayer.

HMRC have said that the systems will be updated before the end of August and that no further action needs to be taken by employers who received incorrect penalty notices!

I must say I am not wholly convinced that these problems are just going to disappear and it is very much a case of ‘Watch this Space’!