Is it too early to talk about Christmas!

In December 2018 HMRC wrote to employers to advise of a temporary easement on reporting PAYE information in real time. This was for a number of reasons, one of which could be due to businesses closing over the Christmas period and therefore having to pay staff earlier than normal.

HMRC have received feedback from employers and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), following this they have announced that this easement can be made permanent and they will update their employer guidance shortly.

Employers are advised to keep the pay date or contractual payday the same date as normal if paying early over Christmas and to submit the Full Payment Submission (FPS) on or before that date.

For example, if you pay on Friday 20^th December 2019 but the normal/contractual payment date isn’t until Tuesday 31^st December 2019, you should report the payment date as 31^st December 2019 on the FPS and ensure the submission is made on or before 31^st December.

Doing this will help to protect employee’s eligibility for Universal Credit, as reporting the payday as the payment date may affect current and future entitlements.

Disclaimer - All information in this post was correct at time of writing.