HMRC Real Time Information

Ensure your payroll or pensions software provider is on top of the changes they need to make

For employers using Bacs to make their payroll submissions, either direct using Bacs software, or indirect through a Bacs Bureau, the main impact on their payment processing will be the introduction of a new four character reference in each payroll payment record and each associated RTI record. This enables a link between the Bacs payment, sent to Bacs, and the RTI information which has been sent separately to HMRC via the EDI channel or the Government Gateway. To add security to the process, in addition to the four character reference, each RTI record is required to contain a hash derived in the payroll software from pre-determined fields.

RTI  Timeline – more opportunity for early adopters

The pilot phase starts in April this year with a handful of employers, in May a further 300 will join. In November HMRC announced that a further 1,300 could join the pilot phase.

The current timeline published by HMRC can be found below:

	April 2012 - Pilot commences with 5 employers submitting RTI data
	May / June 2012 – 300 further employers join the pilot
	July 2012 – New opportunity for 1,300 employers to be part of the pilot
	November 2012 - Early adoption will commence
	April 2013 - Mass migration commences focused initially on large (250+ employees) and medium (50-249 employees) sized employers
	August 2013 - Small employers (<49 employees) begin submitting RTI
	October 2013 - All employers submitting RTI data