The National Crime Agency in conjunction with H M Revenue & Customs have issued an alert to companies who are considering outsourcing payroll and other services or have been approached by companies who offer outsourcing facilities.

It has come to the National Crime Agency’s attention that businesses are being approached by these fraudulent companies proposing to process business expenses, like utility and local council bills, and offering incentives to reduce administration costs. The companies in question ask to pay a lump sum to set up payments which never make it to the suppliers. The first these businesses would know is when the debt recovery process happens.

This has apparently now also spread to the outsourcing of Payroll Services whereby the company offers to pay PAYE direct to HMRC on your behalf, you pay the company but the funds are never sent for onward transmission to HMRC.

You can read the full article on the attached link as it gives some useful suggestion on prevent of fraud.

I would like to take the opportunity of reminding all clients especially those who are currently using outsourcing facility, that you can check your PAYE online via your Government Gateway.

If you do not currently have a scheme it is important you set one up. This is a simple process which can be completed online.

Click ‘Don’t have a Government Gateway account’ and follow the onscreen instructions. You will be asked for your full name, email address, and asked to create a password. Once you have completed your company information an authentication code will be sent through the post for you in approximately seven days to verify the account. Once you have completed the set up process you will be able to activate this for payroll services.

If you already have a Gateway Scheme that you are currently using for VAT or Corporation Tax purposes remember to activate for PAYE under the ‘additional services you can add’ section.

Once added it will show the monthly payroll filings reports and the amount of PAYE which HMRC is expecting. Once you send a payment to HMRC the web page is updated with the amount HMRC receive and any outstanding differences. This is a great tool for making sure HMRC are receiving and processing your FPS (full payment submissions) and EPS (employer payment summary) correctly.

Remember, once the account is activated you will also start to receive any HMRC alerts, like tax coding notice changes or late return notices online.

If you have any questions about this article or would like to speak to someone about outsourcing your payroll function I can be contacted via email or by phone on 01865 292 276