Real Time Information: failure to complete end of year declaration

26 July 2014

HMRC have now provided a statement about the small number of employers who did not complete the end of year questions and declaration when submitting their final FPS for 2013/14.

The HMRC message follows:

"HMRC expects all employers to comply with their legal obligations. Where the final indicator is not completed, but all other obligations are met, HMRC will process the return and calculate the final liability accordingly. Employers who fail to complete the end of year questions and declaration will miss an opportunity to demonstrate their low risk status in every respect. This failure will feed into compliance risk assessment processes.

Currently, there is no specific planned activity to contact employers who failed to complete the final submission indicator. We are continuing to educate employers to make sure their RTI submissions are full and complete, and meet their legal obligations. However, we will monitor the situation and consider whether any further action is required in future."

CIPP comment   We would advise members to check whether they and/or their clients completed these end of year tasks, and if needs be to contact HMRC to rectify the position. It would also be advisable to make a note to ensure that this obligation is not overlooked in future.