PAYE problem

In 2006 we encountered a serious problem with submission of our clients’ P35s for 2005/06. Our complaint against HMRC has now reached the Parliamentary Ombudsman but we wondered if we could get some feedback from other readers to see if they had experienced similar problems.

We submitted our clients’ P35s for 2005/06 in May 2006 using HMRC’s online facility. All of the returns were submitted as ‘real’ returns and we received confirmation emails that the returns had been successfully submitted. Imagine our surprise when we received penalty notices for 20 of our clients in respect of the non-submission of their 2005/06 P35.

To add insult to injury these penalty notices were sent nine months after the submission of the original P35s which meant that each client received a penalty of £900.

Needless to say we contacted HMRC who informed us that the penalties would be...