2007/08 Year End Returns - Online filing restrictions over the tax year end

View the next news item for Electronic Exchange
View the previous news item for Electronic Exchange

20 March 2008

HMRC has provided further, more detailed information about 2007/08 year-end filing issues and, as a result, an expanded version of last week's summary is provided here.

Year-end Filing: HMRC's own online year-end filing facilities are already available for use for 2007/08 Returns. However, they will not be available between 6 am on 4 April and 6 am 6 April, during which period HMRC will be updating its PAYE Service for changes to legislation.

However, the period of restriction is expected to be only between 12 noon and 8 pm on 5 April for employers using third-party software to file their returns. It will still be possible to send Returns during that period but there will be no response until the end of the 8-hour period. If traffic is high during this 8-hour period there may be an additional delay to response messages until the backlog has cleared. Employers should not re-submit their returns because they did not get an acceptance or rejection message straight way.

Year-end returns filed by EDI are not affected at all.

In-Year Filing: It will not be possible to send forms P45, P46 and pension notifications over the Internet using third party software or HMRC's own filing facilities between noon on 2 April and 8 April. During this period, HMRC will be upgrading its systems for the new tax year and a number of developers and employers will be testing out the new validations. If any forms are sent during this period, a message stating "1046 Authentication Failure. The supplied user credentials failed validation for the requested service" will be sent, although some payroll systems may change the wording. The message does not mean that the password or user id have been entered incorrectly, only that the service is closed. If an employer's payroll software does not permit forms to be stored until they can be sent and it is not possible to wait until 9 April to send the forms, paper forms may be ordered and used instead. Full processing capability for in-year forms is expected to be in place by 14 April.

If form P45(3) cannot be sent during this 7-day period, the paper parts 1a, 2 and 3 of the P45 must still be issued to the employees concerned when they leave.

In-year forms filed by EDI are not affected at all.

...UK Payroll News - Latest

Source:
Notes for Payroll Software Developers
Getting ready to send your 2008 employer Return online
Sending PAYE forms P45 and P46 online in April 2008