What are employer compliance checks?

The purpose of an employer compliance check is to satisfy HMRC that all earnings and benefits have been identified and reported correctly by an employer, and that associated payments of income tax and NICs have been made within the statutory time limits. The checks will also consider whether statutory payments and deductions are correct. In the case of large employers (those to which a Customer Relationship Manager has been assigned by HMRC), Know Your Customer visits may be made by HMRC. These are outside the scope of this guidance note.

HMRC’s Risk and Intelligence Service (RIS) identifies the cases for compliance checks. This is to remove any bias from the process. Whilst cases are usually selected because a risk has been identified, random selections are also made. Disgruntled former employees or former spouses of business owners can be a source of HMRC information, although RIS officers are well aware that such information may be incorrect. Employers may wish to consider what could have prompted a check and ensure that they address the issue in their initial meeting with HMRC, since the officer conducting the check is told of any risk that has been identified.

Although at one time it was generally thought that an employer could expect ‘a PAYE review’ every six or so years, this is no longer the case and some employers may not be selected for review for many years, if ever.

Employer compliance checks include the operation of statutory payments and deductions such as statutory sick pay (SSP), statutory maternity pay (SMP), statutory paternity pay (SPP), statutory adoption pay (SAP) and student loan repayments. They do not extend to attachment of earnings orders or to other State benefits. Although payment of the