But the 3 day late filing easement remains in place. August’s Employer Bulletin explains that HMRC has reviewed the effectiveness of the risk-based approach to late filing PAYE penalties and decided to continue with this in 2017–18.

This means that late filing penalties will continue to be reviewed on a risk-assessed basis, rather than being issued automatically. The first penalties for 2017–18 were due to be issued in September.

HMRC’s policy includes continuing not to charge penalties for delays of up to three days in filing PAYE information during the current tax year. However, employers who persistently file after the statutory filing date but within three days, will be monitored and may be contacted or considered for a penalty.

Late payment penalties will also continue to be raised on a risk-assessed basis rather than automatically. Again the focus will be on penalising those who persistently pay late and are of greatest risk.

HMRC will continue to review their approach to PAYE penalties beyond 5 April 2018, in line with a wider review of penalties and will focus on penalising those who deliberately and persistently fail to meet statutory deadlines, rather than those who make occasional and genuine errors for which other responses might be more appropriate.