PAYE25030 - Employer records: employer mailings: employer pack / letter issue
This subject is presented as follows
Background
Automated employer pack / letter issue
DOME schemes
Manually prepared employer packs / letter
Address labels
Free of tax
Issue dates
Payroll agents
Background
The employer pack / letter is the principal vehicle for sending guidance and tables to employers during February each year.
In response to the Department’s commitment to embrace environmental issues, from 2006 the employer pack and its contents are produced using recycled materials and is completely recyclable.
From 2011, in an attempt to reduce volumes of paper and encourage employers to obtain the guidance online, the paper employer pack will no longer be issued to the majority of employers. Instead the covering letter will contain a link to the ‘Employer landing page’ on the HMRC website where employers can download all the information they need.
Only those employers who are exempt from online filing will receive a paper pack. Employers who file online but cannot download information from the HMRC website will receive the ‘Basic PAYE Tools’.
The employer packs / letters are issued either automatically by a mailing contractor or manually by the PAYE Employer Office.
The contents of the employer pack / letter differ according to scheme type. To see the current content for each relevant scheme type
- Use PAYE056
- In the Forms Index select ‘Employer Packs’
And then
- Scroll to the pack for the appropriate scheme type
Automated employer pack / letter issue
Employer annual packs / letters sent automatically by the Mailing contractor are normally issued in the first three weeks of February each year to employers who have one of the following scheme types
- P
- PSC
- OCPN
- TRONC
And
- Have a tick in the Employer Pack checkbox displayed in Function VIEW EMPLOYER PACK AND CODING REQUIREMENTS
Employer packs / letters issued in these cases will be sent to the employer’s correspondence address.
When the employer uses an agent and the Agent Indicator is present the employer pack checkbox will be unchecked and the employer pack / letter is not issued.
DOME schemes
The HMRC mailing contractor will also issue an employer pack to all DOME scheme type employers. These are normally sent out in late February each year.
Note: The PAYE Employer Office will arrange for the issue of P12 cards to those employers before the 5 April each year.
To assist in this process, printed address labels are provided for employer records with a DOME scheme type, set up by mid January each year. These address labels will be sent to the PAYE Employer Office by IMS.
Further information on DOME scheme types can be found at PAYE27011.
Manually prepared employer packs / letter
There are certain scheme types that are not handled centrally and require packs to be prepared and issued by the PAYE Employer Office.
To assist in this process, employer address labels are printed centrally and issued in late January each year. Scheme types that require manual completion and have labels produced are
- DCNI
- DPGEN
And
- DPNI
Address labels
If labels have not been received by mid February (and are expected) the PAYE Employer Office will need to contact the Personal Tax Customer, Product & Process Team at Shipley for advice.
Further information on DOME scheme types can be found in the subject ‘Maintain DOME schemes’ at PAYE27010.
Free of tax
The electronic file ‘Free of Tax’ must be reviewed annually to ensure that packs are issued to employers who operate PAYE Free of Tax.
Issue dates
Scheme type: P, PSC, OCPN, TRONC
Packs issued automatically in February
Scheme type: DOME
Packs issued automatically in February; P12 cards to be issued manually before 5 April
Scheme type: DCNI, DPGEN, DPNI
Packs issued manually before 5 April
Scheme type: Free of Tax
Packs issued manually before 5 April
Payroll agents
In cases where all communications are sent to a Payroll agent it is important to establish if the Payroll agent does in fact require a letter / pack to be issued to them. Payroll agents may act for a number of employers, and would if the employer pack checkbox is ticked, receive an employer pack letter / employer pack for each employer with a scheme type that automatically receives an employer pack letter / employer pack.
When the employer uses an agent and the Agent Indicator is present the employer pack checkbox will be unchecked and the employer pack / letter is not issued. This is to reduce the number of unwanted employer packs / letters being sent to agents.
To avoid potential complaints, where you come across cases in your day to day work where a Payroll agent is acting and whose address is noted as the payroll correspondence address on the employer record and the Agent Indicator is not present, you should
- Contact the Payroll agent (providing there is no evidence to suggest the Payroll agent has already been contacted about this point) and
- Establish whether an employer pack / letter is required for each of the employers for whom they act
- Use Function AMEND EMPLOYER SUMMARY to tick the Agent box in Amend Payroll and Correspondence Details
- Use Function AMEND EMPLOYER NOTES to record your actions and then file the papers in the employer record pad(s)
And
- Use Function AMEND EMPLOYER NOTES to make a similar note on the employer record(s)