A persistent gripe over recent years has been P35 penalties.
The P35 – the employers annual return – is due by 19 May each year and carries a penalty of £100/month thereafter. HMRC had been in the habit of not sending out reminders immediately after 19 May, instead waiting till the autumn each year when 4 or 5 lots of £100 had been incurred.
There have been a number of complaints about this, and a fair few tribunal cases, most of which HMRC have lost – sometimes totally, sometimes the penalty rolled back to one month only on the grounds that it was unfair not to notify businesses sooner.
Quelle surprise then that HMRC have issued a news release yesterday to send “interim penalty letters” at the end of May.
For most of our clients we deal with the P35; but if we don’t make sure you are on top of this, along with related P14s/P60s which go in at the same time, along with P11Ds by early July.