PAYE problems

Few practitioners will have missed the coverage in the national press regarding the underpayments of income tax under the PAYE system that have come to light as a result of HMRC’s new computer system.

It has been suggested that some of these underpayments might be waived by HMRC under extra-statutory concession (ESC) A19.

Information on the concession which applies where the department has not made timely use of information provided to it can be found online.

HMRC explain the concession as follows:

‘ESC A19 states that we will consider giving up arrears of income tax where it [HMRC] fails to make proper and timely use of information received from either the taxpayer their employer or the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) where taxable benefits are received.

‘The information should be something which allows HMRC to amend the taxpayer’s code at the time...