Don't Bother Looking At The Dashboard!

Despite the ongoing spin from HMRC that RTI is working well, reality it seems is not as rosy as the spin.

A quote attributed to an HMRC call centre employee sums up the situation in a nutshell:

"Oh don't bother looking at the dashboard, all the postings are wrong on there."

As per AccountingWEB:

"AccountingWEB member Kenny Achampong challenged this optimistic view: 

“Whenever I speak to them they tell me they can't give me clients’ PAYE income details either on the phone or by post as there is an issue with the details supplied by the employer. I try to find out what exactly the problem is and it’s normally not having the correct year end info reconciled, but have also been told they cannot give any details out as the information they have is just too unreliable now.”

Michael Harle offered a classic good news/bad news summary of the situation: “I agree this delay is of benefit to clients and accountants alike. I do fear the real reason is that HMRC finally worked out how many penalties they would have to issue, and then deal with, next month and realised they are hopelessly under resourced to cope with this.”

These observations are typical for many AccountingWEB members, who are having to wrestle with RTI’s technical and procedural details. But because of the direct link to the universal credit and welfare reform, those closely involved with the project highlight the top-level political significance of the issue. With universal credit now stalled, it’s difficult to tell what the operating parameters for RTI are supposed to be and which way HMRC and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) are likely to turn next."

The fact is that so much political capital has been invested in Universal Credit/RTI that it cannot be allowed to be seen to fail, even if it is failing!

The people who will bear the cost of the failure are both HMRC staff, who have to work around the problems, and the hapless taxpayers who have to waste time and money proving that their figures (not HMRC's) are correct.


Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

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Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

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HMRC Fixes Dashboard

As noted in March, there are a number of technical issues wrt RTI such as the creation of duplicate records.

HMRC have now stated that it has fixed the errors in its employment records:

"The issue affected some employers who employ an individual to do more than one job within the same PAYE scheme. In some instances, the issue resulted in these separate employments being merged in error. This has now been fixed.

Before HMRC corrected the issue affected employer accounts will have been incorrect on HMRC's Business Tax Dashboard.

HMRC has updated the employer records affected and the Business Tax Dashboard will shortly show corrected figures for the affected employers as follows:

• Employers who have been paying the right amount of tax (based on their payroll) should see their accounts now balance on the Business Tax Dashboard. Prior to the records being updated they will have been in a credit position.
• Dependent on individual circumstances, employers who have been paying the amount that the Dashboard said that they owed (rather than the amount based on their payroll) may end up in debt position when the record is updated.
• Some employers may see no change at all.

If an employer will have difficulty paying any extra money owed, they should follow the guidance below:
Problems paying HMRC

HMRC are sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause."

Please let me know as to whether the "fix" has worked or not.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"