Electronic PAYE filing nears 100%

Only around 1.4% of PAYE returns for 2008/09 were filed on paper, the latest figures from HM Revenue & Customs reveal.

More than 52.3 million employers’ Pay As You Earn returns were filed electronically by the May 17 deadline, of which 23.6 million were submitted online and 27.5 million were transferred by electronic data interchange.

By midnight on 15 May, a total of 735,000 paper returns had been received, of which 582,000 were P14 and 153,000 were P35.

Comparatively, there were 56.8 million electronic returns submitted for 2007/08 PAYE returns, and 1.2 million were paper returns.

An HMRC spokesman said online filings were in line with expectations and the department’s IT system has coped well as the deadline has approached.

‘There have been no unplanned interruptions with the online service. There have only been a few minor live issues to report. This has affected a very small minority. I suspect it’s only in the hundreds or very low thousands,’ he said.

HMRC traditionally allows employers a week’s grace period, or extra statutory concession, in submitting their PAYE returns.