This whole RTI thing

[d000hg]

Contractors

Maybe I should read the newsletter more often... I check this forum often but I don't recall ever hearing about RTI before!

Is it really a big hassle to fill in some electronic form each month saying "I paid myself £800"? What's the fuss about "massive amounts of extra admin"?

I picked £800 at random before anyone jumps in

[Clare@InTouch]

From an accountant's point of view it means submitting a return to HMRC each month, rather than each year. It's just a case of confirming the wages and making sure they are correct throughout the year, giving less scope for backdating/amending wages. On an individual company this isn't huge, but when you're doing thousands of them each month then it could create a massive extra amount of work if you're not organised (both us and the client will need to be organised, and whilst we can vouch for ourselves, we can't guarantee that all clients will be!).

[Maslins]

Contractors

Maybe I should read the newsletter more often... I check this forum often but I don't recall ever hearing about RTI before!

Is it really a big hassle to fill in some electronic form each month saying "I paid myself £800"? What's the fuss about "massive amounts of extra admin"?

I picked £800 at random before anyone jumps in

It's not something we're looking forward to.

For the organised clients who do take £X/month on a certain date, it'll just be the faff of telling HMRC each month about it. I'm sure software will make that a fairly minor additional headache.

My concern is those clients who just take cash as/when they see fit (the incorrect "it's my money I'll do what I like with it" logic), relying on their accountant to sort things out come year end.

There are currently debates about whether directors can take funds during the year as "advances" with just one annual payroll done in March.

In an ideal world, it won't be a problem as everyone's very organised and knows exactly what they're doing. In the real world, I think a lot of contractors (likely not the regular posters on here) could be in for a nasty surprise.

HMRC's attitude seems to be "our pilot of some really big companies with great systems has gone very smoothly, therefore we can't foresee any issues at all getting everyone to do it". Time will tell.

[captainham]

I wonder what options there are for those without accountants. As far as I know, you need to submit RTI via compatible payroll software, it's not like you can do it via the HMRC online portal.

[Swamp Thing]

I wonder what options there are for those without accountants. As far as I know, you need to submit RTI via compatible payroll software, it's not like you can do it via the HMRC online portal.

I'm sure HMRC will build RTI reporting into their payroll tools release next April. Well, that would be the logical/sensible thing to do..

[Clare@InTouch]

I'm sure HMRC will build RTI reporting into their payroll tools release next April. Well, that would be the logical/sensible thing to do..

It would, but sadly HMRC aren't always on top of software upgrades!

If anyone uses their own payroll software or is looking for an alternative, try Moneysoft. Cheap & cheerful, easy to use, and on track with RTI.

[d000hg]

My concern is those clients who just take cash as/when they see fit (the incorrect "it's my money I'll do what I like with it" logic), relying on their accountant to sort things out come year end.

Isn't that fine as long as they take at least their monthly salary each month... the rest can be declared as dividends which are written up at year-end for the dates in question?

[d000hg]

From an accountant's point of view it means submitting a return to HMRC each month, rather than each year. It's just a case of confirming the wages and making sure they are correct throughout the year, giving less scope for backdating/amending wages. On an individual company this isn't huge, but when you're doing thousands of them each month then it could create a massive extra amount of work if you're not organised (both us and the client will need to be organised, and whilst we can vouch for ourselves, we can't guarantee that all clients will be!).

Are InTouch going to do this for clients as part of the standard service, or require us to do it ourselves, or give us the option either way?

[Maslins]

Isn't that fine as long as they take at least their monthly salary each month... the rest can be declared as dividends which are written up at year-end for the dates in question?

As I understand it RTI involves HMRC knowing about payments at the same time/before they're physically made.

So this _should_ mean prior to the client taking any money, they have a think, discuss with accountant if needs be, decide what it should represent, and then submit RTI thing/prepare dividend minute/voucher as appropriate. I'm saying in reality in a lot of cases this doesn't happen.

[kingcook]

It's this bit that worries me...!

In future HMRC will be able to see what any individual is paid and consequentially amend any benefits (including child benefit). What is really worrying is that long term, HMRC want to administer the pay themselves. They are aiming for employers to transfer salaries to the Revenue who will then forward onto employees their pay less tax.