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Next steps — correcting errors, guidance and legislation (part 14)

Updated 15 December 2023

© Crown copyright 2023

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected].

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-to-comply-with-the-reformed-off-payroll-working-rules-ir35-gfc4/5c1f5005-0c56-47df-8823-7a0a1fa67385

HMRC will not provide clearance of status determinations, or give advance approval for your systems and processes. However, we will stand behind determinations made using the Check Employment Status for Tax tool (CEST) tool, as long as the information you use to arrive at the determination remains accurate, and is in line with HMRC’s guidance.

Correcting an error

Your organisation may recognise new elements of best practice, after you have read these guidelines. Implementing these can lead to improvements to your systems and processes.

Improved systems and processes might also lead to you identifying that you’ve underpaid tax in the past. If you find an error, you must correct it, whether it happened in the current year, or a previous one.

What to do

If you discover that there has been an error in your RTI (Real Time Information) submissions to HMRC, because you’ve incorrectly determined a worker’s off-payroll status, you must:

  • where possible, submit the correct figures to HMRC using the appropriate RTI submission — read more about fixing problems with running payroll
  • make a voluntary disclosure to HMRC, explaining the errors and calculating the income tax and National Insurance due
  • send the details of your error to your Customer Compliance Manager (CCM), if you have one

You’ll have to pay interest on any late payments of tax, from the date they were originally due, until the date you pay what you owe. HMRC may also charge you a penalty on any underpaid taxes. Although the rate of the penalties will vary depending on your circumstances, they’ll usually be lower if you make a voluntary disclosure.

If you’re making a voluntary disclosure after reading these guidelines, include the Guidelines for Compliance reference number (GfC4) as part of your disclosure. This will help HMRC to assess the value of our education and support.

Further questions

If you have any further questions after reading these guidelines, you can email us.

  1. Make sure you include the Guidelines for Compliance reference number (GfC4) in the subject line. If you have a Customer Compliance Manager (CCM), copy them into the email.

  2. Send your questions to [email protected].

Sending information to HMRC by email carries certain risks. We assume that, by sending information in an email, you understand and accept these risks.

Give feedback on these guidelines

We’ve created a survey to help measure your experience of this Guidelines for Compliance product.

We’ll use the feedback from this survey to:

  • establish any areas which customers still have trouble understanding
  • find out where customers might make changes, after reading the guidelines
  • improve future Guidelines for Compliance products

You can only use this survey to give anonymous feedback about these guidelines. Do not provide any personal data that might identify you, your clients, or any specific case or enquiry with HMRC. The survey is not a route to contact HMRC for specific enquires. The replies will not be seen by anyone responsible for dealing with your tax affairs. 

Take the survey

Start the survey.

The survey has been created in accordance with the HMRC Privacy Notice.

Legislation and guidance

The legislation relating to off-payroll Working is Chapter 10, part 2 Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.

Off-payroll working guidance

The main sources of available guidance relating to the off-payroll working rules include:

Guidance on the Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool

This includes:

Status decision making guidance

This includes:

Guidance on reducing risk when using umbrella companies

Read HMRC’s main guidance on umbrella companies.

Contact HMRC about off-payroll working

Get the correct details you can use to contact HMRC about off-payroll working.

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