Revenue issued letters to certain employers notifying them that they have been selected for a Revenue PAYE compliance check. The letters are issuing in the first instance to employers who did not respond to Revenue correspondence regarding their 2017 P35 returns. We understand that similar letters will issue at a later stage to employers who Revenue have identified as having high risk payroll features.

The letters state that a Revenue officer will visit the employer and discuss their payroll system, the controls and checks in place to assure compliance with PAYE Regulations and readiness for the modernisation of PAYE in January 2019. The Revenue officer will also seek to examine certain payroll books and records.

These compliance checks are profile interviews part of Revenue’s compliance activity under the PAYE Modernisation project. The letter states that they do not restrict an employer’s right to make an Unprompted Qualifying Disclosure under the terms of the Audit Code of Practice.