SPONSORED ARTICLE
Payroll Question Time
Ros Hendren, Consultant from Well Paid answers some common
questions about payroll and outsourcing payroll.
What is RTI and how does
it affect me as a small
business owner?
Real Time Information (RTI) was
introduced for all companies (with a
few limited exceptions) in April 2013.
It replaced the need for an annual
P35 submission to HMRC, with a
requirement that PAYE information
must be reported on or before payday,
every time you pay your employees.
A critical part of this change is
that you no longer have the option to
report PAYE information manually;
all reports must be submitted
electronically, either through RTI
compliant payroll software or using
HMRC’s updated Basic Tools.
RTI reporting is compulsory with
automatic fines issued for noncompliance. However in order to help
small businesses make the transition
to this new way of working, HMRC
announced a 12 month easement
of fines for companies who do not
comply. This was further extended to
October 2014, but there are no signs
of any further extensions.
This means that as of October this
year, if you are not yet RTI compliant,
you will face automatic fines of £100
per 50 employees per month, where
submission deadlines are missed.
If you run your payroll in house
using a payroll software package,
your software should already be
RTI compliant. If you still operate a
manual system then you need to find
an alternative solution. Either way you
need to make sure that your payroll
staff are aware of the changes, to
avoid the risk of non-compliance and
fines. If you outsource your payroll
then your provider should have taken
care of everything already, but you
might want to ask just to be sure.
What is the benefit of
outsourcing my Payroll?
Traditionally, payroll outsourcing is
the provenance of large companies
but in many ways it is of even greater
benefit to small businesses.
Payroll legislation changes
continually, usually at the start of
every new tax year, but also with a
change of government, and when new
policy is introduced. Keeping pace
with this change is a monumental
task for any business, be it a large
corporate or a small company.
Not only is there a constant need to
update payroll systems and processes,
but payroll staff also need constant
re-education of current legislation,
to ensure compliance and the
avoidance of fines.
This is a costly and time-consuming
activity that although essential,
adds no value to your business. By
outsourcing your payroll you can free
up cash flow, time, and resource
to concentrate on delivering your
core business to your customers.
Additionally, outsourcing your
payroll gives you access to a virtual
team, where you can access payroll
knowledge and expertise, at a fraction
of the cost it would be to hire the same
expertise within your business.
With a Payroll Bureau you can
rest secure in the knowledge that
no matter what payroll legislative
changes are introduced, you have
an expert to guide you through.
Outsourcing your payroll also has
the added benefit of providing secure
offsite storage of employee data.
Ros has over 25 years
experience in the payroll and
outsourcing industry and owns
Well Paid, a Payroll Bureau
specialising in supporting the
needs of small businesses.
www.wellpaid.org.uk
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