ACCA is calling for a change in the regulations for the revised benefits system, Universal Credit, in the light of the additional administrative burden businesses face with HMRC's new Real Time Information (RTI) system.

The institute says it welcomes the decision to defer RTI implementation for businesses with 50 or fewer employees until 6 October 2013, but warns that problems of 'on or before' filing are likely to increase once companies have to meet the requirement of both RTI and Universal Credit , which is due to come in this October.

Chas Roy-Chowdhury, ACCA head of taxation, says: 'Under the new Universal Credit system, the employer has a strict requirement to report any change in circumstance relating to the pay of an employee in real time, which sounds simple enough. However, RTI reports are in addition to this and allow for changes to an employee's pay which occur outside of the normal PAYE filing. This is the real burden and can create a multitude of additional "on or before" filings'.

ACCA wants to see the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) change the Universal Credit regulations to reduce what it is calling 'the disproportionate burden upon businesses'.

'It should be optional for all businesses, not just SMEs, to choose whether they need to file the "on or before" information more frequently than the monthly payment schedule for Universal Credit claimants. The marginal benefits of the strict "on or before" obligation are by no means clear relative to the obvious extra burden on the whole of the UK employer community, not just those with Universal Credit claimants on their payroll,' Roy-Chowdhury said.

Roy-Chowdhury cautioned that under current plans, businesses risk being 'bogged down in the endless stream of real time reporting when they should be focused on aspiring for growth'. He also questioned whether DWP would itself be able to cope with the administrative load involved.