When will it become compulsory to do my year end return
online?
All employers will be required to file their Employer's Annual
Returns electronically by 2010. However, the deadline for
doing so will depend on how many employees your company has:
|
Number
of Employees
|
1st
Year of Compulsory Filing
|
Which
Return
|
Deadline
|
| 250 or more |
2005 |
2004/05 End of Year |
19 May 2005 |
| Between 50 & 249 |
2006 |
2005/06 End of Year |
19 May 2006 |
| Less than 50 |
2010 |
2009/10 End of Year |
19 May 2010 |
What happens if my submission won't go through and I'm not
receiving an error message?
It is likely that the Government Gateway is experiencing a high
volume of traffic.
Before you consider contacting HMRC, it is worth verifying that
the Internet connection on your machine is still operating
correctly. You can do this simply by accessing any other web
page.
You can also check to see if there are any current problems with
the Gateway by going to the following link and looking up the
Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
service
Alternatively, you may wish to consider submitting during
'off-peak' times.
I am unable to submit a nil return via online filing, why?
If no payments have been made in the relevant tax year you
cannot submit a nil return. HMRC do not want to receive a
submission if there are no details however, you should inform them
that you are not making a submission.
My submission has gone through, but I have not received any
confirmation from HMRC?
HMRC will normally advise you that your submission has been
received via email.
If you do not receive an email, you should first ensure that the
address you entered for the submission is correct. The email
address HMRC replies to is the one you entered on the Online
Services configuration screen but, if there is a problem with this,
they may use the address that is registered in your online services
account.
Another reason for not receiving confirmation may be due to HMRC
being extremely busy at this time of year. Your confirmation is
likely to be in a queue, and will no doubt be processed in due
course. If in doubt, contact HMRC.
I have discovered a mistake after filing online, what can I
do?
Your options for correcting mistakes once a submission has been
made are fairly limited. HMRC treat a whole return as your
complete return for that year. Sending amended information means
that your original return was not full and complete and you may be
charged a penalty. This is why it is essential that you verify the
submission totals and P14 count prior to making a
submission.
Once you have submitted a P35 for a particular tax reference,
the Government Gateway will not accept any further submissions for
that reference. Your next course of action will depend on your
submission type, as detailed below:
“Full” submission (All P14s with
P35)
If you have performed a full submission, there is some scope for
making an amendment submission online. You CANNOT make an
amendment submission through EARNIE. For more details contact
HMRC direct or visit their website.
“Part” submission (batches of
P14s, P35 sent separately)
Providing you have not filed the P35, you can re-submit any part
of a multiple submission. You will need to ensure that the “Unique
ID” for the part you are
re-submitting matches the original.
If the P35 for a multi-part submission has been filed and
accepted, you have effectively made a full submission (see
above). Once a whole submission has been made, an additional
part cannot be sent later.
I am getting “Cannot Connect” when attempting to file online.
What should I do?
This means that something is interfering with, or blocking, your
Internet connection. It is impossible for us to say exactly what
but you may want to try the following:
- Turn off virus checkers
- Internet Explorer version should be 5.5 or higher with 128 bit
encryption
- Internet security programs, surf control, privacy control
programs etc. should be checked to ensure they do not interfere
with access. If in doubt they should be turned off
- Firewalls should be checked to ensure they do not impose any
restrictions to traffic on port 443 (https) for BOTH inbound and
outbound traffic
- If you have a proxy server which enforces authentication on a
per connection basis, this should be disabled or bypassed.
Can you give me any advice on reconciliation?
Firtst, print off the following reports:
- P35 employer's annual return
- Year-to-date summary
- P35 CS
- P30 summary*
* This report is updated each
time you run month-end processing.
If you have not been processing each period, you can process
again Based on Tax Calendar to allow you to use this
report. Compare the total figures on all of these reports.
If they all agree with each other and with the payments you have
made to HMRC
you are ready to make your submission.
My online filing test submission has failed, what should I
do?
If the test submission fails you should receive a message or
error indicating what
the problem is. This could either be an issue with
discrepancies, which you need
to correct on your data, or it could be a problem with the
connection to HMRC's gateway.
Once you have corrected these problems you should try the test
submission again.
Don't forget: even if you receive
a message saying the test submission has
been successful you still need to submit for real.
How do I perform a test submission?
The test submission itself is almost identical to performing a
live submission. You just need to select the appropriate
‘submission type’ before you submit. From the main menu bar select
‘Company’ ‘Online Services’ ‘Send Year End Submission’. In the
Submission Type box, select Test In Live. Click on Submit to
perform the test.
If I perform a P14 Only Submission, how can I enter a “Part ID”
so that HMRC can identify it correctly?
HMRC identify your submissions primarily through your Gateway ID
and the tax district/reference numbers which are included in the
data you submit.
If you are submitting the P14s for a particular tax reference in
parts, each part needs to be uniquely identified. To enter the
unique identity or “Part ID” go to 'Company' 'Alter Company
Details' 'Tax' tab. The Unique ID will be used as the Part ID
for the submission.
I am online filing my year end return. How do I print out my
employees' P60s?
You can print them on pre-printed forms. We supply our own
data mailer and Z-fold reports. If you would like to use these
forms please contact us
for more information.
HMRC's various reports are also available in the year end
library. Remember, leavers do not get P60s so the system will not
print them for anyone who has received a P45.
Can I submit information on Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)
employees via online filing using EARNIE IQ?
CIS workers are not classed as employees, they are classed as
sub-contractors so no P14s should be submitted for them. They must
be removed from the payroll before the submission is made. They can
be put in a dummy company if the user wants to keep the workers'
details.
If you want to submit the totals for CIS deductions suffered
it's NO LONGER NECESSARY to submit this information separately via
the P35 option on the Inland Revenue web site; the information can
now be entered in EARNIE IQ in the P35 Annual Return
screen. To access this screen, select 'Company' 'P35 Annual
Return' then click on the Other tab.
HMRC have sent a form asking how I intend to do electronic
filing. Which option do I choose?
You can use the online filing method of electronic year end
returns. EARNIE IQ does not support the Electronic Data Interchange
(EDI).
What incentives are HMRC offering to encourage online
filing?
HMRC will provide financial incentives to employers with fewer
than 50 employees to encourage them to file electronically (e-file)
up to 2008/09. On current plans, to qualify for incentives an
employer will:
- Have less than 50 employees
- File the end of year return (forms P35 and P14), on time,
electronically, meeting quality standards, fully and
correctly
If the above criteria are satisfied the incentive payments
available are:
- Tax year 2007/2008 - £100
- Tax year 2008/2009 - £75
If I submit my year end online, do I still need to file my P35
on paper?
The P35 is included in a whole submission. If you are filing
part submissions online you still need to submit a separate P35
electronically, either using the EARNIE or HMRC website.
Can I submit my return before the 6th April?
In previous years, the Gateway did not open for the new
submissions until 6th April. This has now changed and the
Gateway is now continuously open for 2009/10 submissions. You
will be able to submit as soon as you have installed the April 2010
release of your EARNIE software and have finalised your payrolls
for this tax year.
(Note: Companies that have ceased trading can perform a
“Cessation Return” without installing the April 2010 release.)
Although there is now a larger window of opportunity to make
submissions, there is still likely to be periods when the Gateway
is extremely busy. It is difficult to predict exactly when
these will be but early April and a week or so leading up to the
deadline (19th May) are good possibilities. In these times
you are likely to find that your submission will take some time to
be accepted and for you to receive any confirmation, both online
during the submission itself, and also for your confirmation email
to be received. You are also likely to experience 'polling'
messages in the software due to the very high volume of submissions
being made at this time.
You may wish to avoid submitting your returns at peak times and
you may want to check the HMRC website for information regarding
any problems that may be being experienced by the Gateway.
I am a small employer. How do I reclaim my incentive
payment?
The online filing incentive is £150 for the 2006/07 tax
year. To qualify for the tax free incentive payment you need
to satisfy the following conditions:
- Be a small employer (have less than 50 employees)
- Submit your year end online, passing the quality standard set
by the HMRC
- Submit online before the deadline.
To claim your incentive you can either reduce the total payment
for the year or wait for HMRC to issue you with a cheque. We
recommend you always confirm your eligibility before the
self-service option.
Please
note: You need to claim the incentive payment in
arrears i.e. if you receive confirmation from the HMRC that you can
claim your incentive payment for your submission for tax year 05/06
this would be claimed against 06/07 payments.
If you choose to reduce the total payable remember your P35 must
reflect this. Go to 'Company' 'P35 Annual Return' 'Other' and
enter the amount in here. You must also reduce the total
amount payable by the same amount.
How do I configure my online services?
In EARNIE IQ you can group together a number of companies for
online filing purposes. This saves you having to enter your
sender details multiple times, and also allows you to combine
submissions for the same PAYE ref number when companies have been
split on the program (e.g monthly and weekly).
To configure online filing, select ‘Company’ ‘Configure Online
Services’. A full explanation of the various options in here can be
found in ‘Configuring Online services’ available under the Company
Menu in the help files.
My year end reports balance with each other but don't match
what I have paid to HMRC for the year. What should I do?
- Re-print and process the Month end summary for each month
- Check the new reports against the originals
You may find a month that doesn't match because the payroll has
been re-run and altered in some way for an employee. In this case
you need to adjust your final payment to HMRC for the 2009/10 tax
year to match the submission.
The totals on my year end reports do not balance. What should I
do?
This is usually caused by employees' YTD figures not matching
the total of their
This Period (TP) figures. The solution is to print the Year end
Discrepancies report (available in the Year end Library) This
will highlight any problem employees. You must then decide which
figure is correct, as this will have an impact on how to amend the
figures:
Year-to-date figures
incorrect
Amend the figures by going to 'Employee' 'Overrule Figures'
'Alter To-date Totals'.
This will adjust the totals on the Year-to-Date Summary and the P14
screen.
This period figures
incorrect
Amend the figures in the P14 screen by going to: 'Employee' 'P14
Details'.
This will adjust the totals on the P35 Annual Employer's Return and
the P35(CS)
How will I know my online submission has been submitted?
Once your submission has been accepted by the Gateway, EARNIE IQ
will print a status report on the screen.
You will notice that the last line of the report is the
Status. If there are no problems with your submission, the
status will be "Sent - No Errors".
Click the 'Print' button to print a summary of the information
for your records. If you have a registered email address with
HMRC, they will also send you email notification that your
submission has been received. If there is a problem with your
submission you will get a message highlighting what the problem
is. You will need to rectify the problem then try your
submission again.
Why am I getting the message “Submission already received for
this employer” when attempting to file my year end return
online?
This means that a submission for the tax district and reference
you are using has already been made.
Once a full submission (P14s plus P35) has been accepted by the
Gateway, you cannot re-submit. If you get this message, you should
double check the tax district and reference you are using, under
‘Company’ ‘Alter Company Details’ ‘Tax' tab.
If you are performing a combined submission, you should check that
ALL the companies included have the same district and
reference.