HMRC have advised that some employers (using products from one specific software provider) have sent HMRC their end-of-year information on the wrong type of submission. As a result those employers have received penalty warning notices. A penalty warning notice has been issued because HMRC had not received an Employer Annual Return from those employers. This issue does not affect employers who took part in the RTI pilot.

This issue impacts employers who:

• used two products of one particular software provider
• were not in the RTI pilot
• made their 2012–13 end of year return submission after 6 April 2013
• used 2012–13 PAYE Real Time Information software to complete their P35 and P14s
• sent an Employer Payment Summary by 19 May to HMRC instead of their P35 and in some cases employers have now sent in their Employer Annual Return and will have received a late filing penalty.

The software provider should have contacted those affected by this issue by email with specific guidance on how to file their 2012–13 Employer Annual Return, if not yet submitted.

HMRC are working with the software provider to identify all the employers who are affected and appreciate that employers are still getting used to operating PAYE in real time and that mistakes may occur. As a result, employers who received a penalty warning notice and meet the specific criteria above should follow the guidance provided by their software provider and should have submitted their Employer Annual Return by 25 June 2013. If this action was undertaken, HMRC will cancel the penalty notice on this occasion where the employer submits their P35 by then.

Penalties will apply to any employer in these circumstances who did not submit a P35 and P14s by this date.

For those employers affected by this issue and who have previously sent their Employer Annual Return, HMRC will arrange for the penalty they will have received to be cancelled.

An amended penalty notice will be issued confirming this position in due course.