HMRC have advised that from last month they are beginning to provide employers and agents with an additional method for submitting end of year expenses and benefits forms.

‘Online end of year Expenses and Benefits forms’ is an HMRC produced web-based set of forms aimed at small to medium sized employers who can use these to submit their employees’ expenses and benefits information online.

Initially there will be just two new online forms available - with an equivalent form for agents to use on behalf of their clients - but in time HMRC intend to develop more. The new online forms will simply offer an additional choice should payroll software not support expenses and benefits reporting.

To report expenses and benefits, employers can still choose to use their own payroll software if it provides this function, or use ‘PAYE Online for employers’ to submit forms via the Government Gateway.

Employers who currently use HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools to run payroll will need to consider alternative methods for completing benefits end of year forms (P11D, P9D and P11D(b)) as these tools will not provide this facility from 2012-13 onwards.