A £158BN hole in the public finances means that HMRC are being used to try and raise extra cash for the Treasury, as quickly as possible and that will mean easy targets, so small and medium size firms, anyone in the construction industry are in the direct firing line for:

employer compliance reviews

PAYE/NIC investigations

Employment status reviews

tax investigations

you name it and they are heading your way and don’t think it won’t happen to you – it will, so why not take advantage of the special deal that EICG is running this month on PAYE/NIC healthchecks and Construction Industry reviews, call us today on 0800 917 9176 to see how we can help you avoid being a victim

HMRC announced in June that Extra Statuory Concession B46 (ESC B46) allowing a seven-day grace period for late employers’ and contractors’ returns will cease from 31 March 2011.

ESC B46 established the principle that penalties would not be charged when employers and contractors submitting tax returns and CIS forms had taken “all reasonable steps” to file their returns on time, but were not able to do so due to unforeseen circumstances such as postal delays.

With the advent of online filing, which is required for P35s and P14s and will become mandatory for Corporation Tax returns from 1 April, HMRC considers the concession to be “redundant” because the delays it was intended to address will no longer happen. Returns must therefore reach the department by their due date or incur a late filing penalty of £100.

Confirming the new penalty regime HMRC explained: “Any customers filing a return late will, as now, be able to request us to remove any penalty, if they believe they had a reasonable excuse for the delay in filing. We will consider every case on its own merits. Customers can also appeal against the penalty to a Tribunal.”