If you are an employment intermediary who is required to submit quarterly returns to HMRC you need to ensure the information is submitted on time, is complete and is correct. Failure to meet these requirements will result in HMRC issuing automatic penalties.
You must send HMRC your report(s) by each reporting period's deadline which is one calendar month from the end of the reporting period.
2016-2017 Deadlines
You can select and remove a report after you have sent it however removal of all reports after a period’s deadline once the original deadline has lapsed and the period doesn’t have a report, you may receive a penalty for a late report, unless you:
- upload and send a new report (or reports)
- send a NIL report
- tell HMRC you are no longer an intermediary
You can also upload and send more reports if you need to. You must do this before the next reporting period’s deadline.
What penalty will be incurred?
The penalty incurred is based on the number of offences in a 12 month period.
The amounts are:
- £250 - first offence
- £500 - second offence
- £1,000 - third and later offences
If you submit a late report, but at least 12 months have passed since the last time you were late, it will be treated as a first offence.
Where there is a continued failure to send reports, or where reports are frequently sent in late, you may receive a penalty of up to £600 for every day that you are late. Furthermore upon receipt of a late filing penalty you are still required to submit your return as a failure to submit this after 30 days may incur a further penalty of up to £600 for every day you are late.
If you submit a report that is incorrect or if HMRC find that a report should have been submitted, and wasn’t, penalties may apply. An incomplete report, for example a report where any information is missing, will count as an incorrect report. Penalties for incorrect reports will be determined on a case-by-case basis.