HMRC have indicated that employers who want to set up a recurring direct debit for their employer PAYE, that this needs to be done at least 6 working days before the payment due date of 22nd of the month. Of course, where the 22nd falls on a non banking day then the earlier payment date is required.
The direct debits will always be collected shortly after the 22nd day and employers will no longer receive a late payment generic notification.
Unfortunately they may still see interest being charged on if they access their online account between the 23rd and the date the payment is actually taken, but HMRC indicate that this anomaly will be reversed once the payment is processed.
If an employer wants to set up either a direct debit or a Time to Pay arrangement, they will need to do this themselves, as agents are unable to do it. To set themselves up the employer will need to be enrolled for PAYE Online for employers.
Opinion
Of course HMRC increasingly want employer to interact digitally with Them, and are encouraging the use of the direct debit facilities.
It’s a shame that not all of the flow is aligned across the suite of HMRC systems, misbalances still occur and the timing issues of DDs and payments being credited to the account lacks an element of completeness. However, HMRC want employers to be assured that these short term anomalies will all come out in the wash with the account balancing correctly with any interest charge for the HMRC delay in collecting monies will be removed.
PAYadvice.UK 26/5/2023
