The latest HMRC report into Real Time Information (RTI) focusing on employers who took part in the pilot scheme, highlights a high percentage of technical problems although the tax authorities claim that the new PAYE reporting system has generally lowered the end of year (EOY) burden.

The 55-page report follows initial research which indicated that the vast majority of participants were confident about their RTI preparation and that although one in three employers were negative about RTI, employers were expecting RTI to simplify what is required of them at EOY and expected it to reduce the overall burden of reporting.

This research aimed to measure the impact of the RTI EOY experience and the benefits and burdens for employers compared with reporting under the previous PAYE system.

Three-quarters of employers said that EOY had been either very (28%) or fairly (49%) easy to deal with under RTI. However, half of employers did not agree that the new system improved existing processes, although only 9% said it had been difficult. The worst affected businesses were micro businesses who claimed that the RTI introduction had been extremely problematic.

Almost half (47%) of pilot employers using commercial software saw their software costs increase in the year they migrated to RTI, but only a fifth reported any costs directly for the RTI upgrade or support as these charges were absorbed by the software companies. Nearly half of respondents (46%) also faced technical problems when they first adopted RTI.

However, over half of employers said that they found EOY under RTI easier to deal with than they expected although one in three employers saw no significant change or improvement as a result of RTI.

The research sample was 756 with further in-depth research with 28 employers.

The PAYE RTI Pilot End of Year Customer Experience Research report is available from HMRC