A N Other fine mess on PAYE paperwork

Employers are being urged to make sure their PAYE paperwork is correct after hundreds of returns incorrectly claimed to employ A N Other in 2009/10.

As well as 507 A N Others, employer returns submitted to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for 2009/10 also contained the following errors:

• 128 staff entered as Mr, Ms or Mrs Dummy
• 572 people whose surnames only included the letter X, ranging from Mr X to Mrs XXXXXX
• 75 staff with the surname Casual, 11 Cleaners, nine Workers and six Students
• 824 employees with the surname Unknown and
• 40 people who were apparently aged 200 or more, due to incorrect dates of birth beign given 

Jim Harra, HMRC’s director of customer operations, said: “Most employers get their PAYE returns right. The few who don’t can cause problems for their employees, for example, incorrect deductions of tax.

“Around 80 per cent of errors in employee data are due to an incorrect name, date of birth or national insurance number – straightforward information that can be collected and checked quite easily.

“So, whether you are employing Mr or Mrs J Smith – or even Mr or Mrs A N Other, please use the full and official name on your PAYE paperwork. First names are very important, especially for common surnames.

“We really want employers to check that they are sending us the right details for all their employees, to make life easier for them, HMRC and their employees.”