HMRC Generic Notices
20 December 2013
Some CIPP members have been telling us that they have been receiving Generic Notices from HMRC which appear to be incorrect. The Policy team have been collating these cases and passing the details on to HMRC for investigation. We can now bring news of one particular scenario which is where a Generic Notice has been issued saying that an FPS has not been received, but in these cases an EPS has been sent before the 19th of the month, therefore no FPS is required. The official HMRC response is at the end of this message, but essentially, the Generic Notices had been selected for issue based on details held on 6th of the month. This allows for those who have genuinely forgotten to submit an EPS to do so before the 19th thereby avoiding a penalty. Following the feedback you have provided, HMRC now recognises the confusion this creates for those who have already submitted an EPS, especially for agents who have to explain these notices to their clients. HMRC now intends reducing the amount of time between the selection of data and the issue of the notices. And from April 2014, it will be possible to submit EPSs during the current month, which should go a long way to alleviating this problem. “Thanks very much for your email letting us know about these difficulties. You may know that we have been introducing our GNS messaging in a staged process and we think the short- term deferral in notices leaving the HMRC estate may have led to some confusion in some cases such as these. The intention of the service is for the system to look at the filing position of each employer on the day after the tax month (6th) to check that we have received the number of returns that we expect. Where that expectation has not been met at that date, the purpose of the GNS is to warn the employer of a potential filing default - to allow them to bring their affairs up to date by filing an EPS if necessary by the 19th. We haven't yet looked at the individual cases below, but the facts you have provided suggest that your clients filed an EPS between the time that the system recognised the apparent failure (6th) and the issue of the actual GNS (possibly 12th). In the future, this period will only be a matter of a day or so, which we anticipate will reduce considerably the scope for similar confusion. To be clear for what will happen after April 2014, before penalty issue at the end of each quarter the system will look to check that each month that was previously recorded as being in default remains in default at the time of assessment. In these cases where a default has actually being rectified, a penalty charge will not be issued. We hope this clarifies matters. We are grateful for your feedback as it shows that we need to improve our communications / messages in this area. We have already updated our advice for our contact centres. Please pass on our apologies to your clients for any confusion that this may have caused.” We have also suggested to HMRC that the wording of the Generic Notices be amended to avoid this type of confusion. HMRC official response:
CIPP Policy News Journal
16/04/2014, Page 348 of 519
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