Samples of the payroll year-end returns have been made available to payroll software developers. There are a number of cosmetic changes but the following adjustments are worthy of note:

P35 Employer Annual Return

Note first the change to the name of this form. It is no longer the 'Employer's Annual Return'; it is now the 'Employer Annual Return'. Similarly,

• form P38A is now the 'Employer Supplementary Return'
  
  
• form P11D(b) is now the 'Return of Class 1A National Insurance contributions due, Return of expenses and benefits - Employer declaration'
  
  
• guidance on completing the returns is available in the Employer Helpbooks, from the Employer Helpline, and on the Employer CD-ROM
  
  
• paper copies of forms and booklets can be ordered from the Employer Orderline.

These are valuable changes that will remove the author's confusion over where the apostrophe goes whenever he has to type the names.

The form also has a reminder to employers not to submit the paper version of the form if it is being sent online.

On the reconciliation pages:

• box 8, Deductions made from subcontractors, is moved from the Income Tax column to become box 23 in the final balancing section
  
  
• the Tax Credits section is removed altogether, following the transfer of all tax credit payments to HMRC from the start of the 2006/07 tax year.

Of interest to service companies subject to IR35 rules is an adjustment to the wording of the second part of question 6:

• The current question asks: "If 'Yes', have you included a deemed payment, or any part of one on their form P14?"
  
  
• The new question asks: "If 'Yes', can you confirm that either sufficient amounts of employment income have been paid to reduce the deemed payment to nil or that a deemed payment has been included on their form P14?"

P11 Deductions Working Sheet

All references to Tax Credits are removed. The boxes for recording the dates and amounts of the payments in the heading section are deleted. The final column in the PAYE Income Tax section is changed into a "For employer's use" column.

P14 End of Year Summary

The only change to this return is the removal of the single box for reporting tax credit payments to the employee during the tax year.

...back to 22 December 2005

Sources:
Online Services: Draft Versions of 2005-06 and 2006-07 forms

The UK Payroll News is sponsored by HRD & Payroll Solutions

Discuss this news item in the PayPerShop Forum

A redesigned form P46 comes into use from 6 April 2006. Payroll systems that are able to submit the form electronically must send data in the new format from that date.

The employee's NI number must be entered, where it is known, as the full nine characters. If the final letter is not known, the employer should enter either A, B, C or D - it does not matter which. Unlike P14 returns, if the final character is left blank, the form will be rejected.

...back to 15 December 2005

Sources:
Notes for Software Developers

The UK Payroll News is sponsored by HRD & Payroll Solutions

Discuss this news item in the PayPerShop Forum