HMRC have announced that employers will not incur penalties for delays of up to three days in filing PAYE information under Real Time Information. Late payment penalties will continue to be reviewed on a risk-assessed basis rather than be issued automatically.

There is no change to the filing deadlines. This means filing on or before each payment date unless the circumstances set out in the sending an FPS after payday guidance apply.

In addition, HMRC intends to close around 15,000 PAYE schemes this month that have not made a PAYE report since April 2013 and which appear to have ceased. HMRC will write to the affected schemes to tell them about the planned closure andwhat to do if they are, or should be, operating PAYE.

Employers with fewer than 50 employees are reminded that PAYE late filing penalties will apply to them from 6 March.

Any employer that has received an in-year late filing penalty for the period 6 October 2014 to 5 January 2015 which was 3 days late or less, should appeal against same.