Real time information and penalties

The new universal tax credit will use real time data about earnings to adjust benefit entitlements. Consequently by October 2013 all employers and pension providers will inform HMRC about earnings and tax NIC and other deductions ‘on or before payment’ is made to the employee.

Confusingly this ‘on or before payment’ condition is said to be the most significant change to the PAYE since its introduction in 1944 but is also presented as merely a change in reporting requirements the implication being that payroll software...