RTI came into force well over a year ago, but compliance is not necessarily and easy process. With fines now fully in force for smaller businesses (and concerns that fines are proportionally harsher for them than their larger counterparts) it is important to ensure that you follow the rules and handle all your reporting properly.
Consider Professional Help
One of the easiest and most effective ways to ensure that your payroll processes remain fully compliant with RTI guidelines is to entrust them to a professional. While you could hire an in-house payroll specialist, outsourcing will be a far more practical and cost-effective solution for most businesses. Outsourcing to a professional payroll bureau will take the bulk of the burden off of your hands and place it with full-time specialists who knew exactly what they are doing and will ensure everything is done properly. They will also be able to provide ongoing expert help and advice with those aspects of the process that do remain with your business. This is probably one of the single most effective ways to eliminate errors and issues of non-compliance.
Use Compliant Software
If any part of your payroll continues to be handled in house or if you decide against outsourcing entirely, then think carefully about your choice of software package. Compliant software that has been built to handle the demands of RTI will be a major step in making sure that everything is in order at all stages of the reporting process. You should also make sure that you choose the right package for your needs. There are many payroll packages available – including some free ones that can be surprisingly good for the very small business – but not every package is suitable for every payroll. If your payroll is fairly small and straightforward, consider choosing a package to match in order to avoid unnecessary confusion. If it is large and complex, however, then make sure your software is capable of handling things smoothly.
Keep All Important Data Updated
Accurate reporting is much easier if you keep all the data you hold thoroughly updated – even those details which are not normally so pressing. If you want to be sure of RTI compliance, you should ensure that all employee records are properly set up and maintained, with any changes to an employee’s information actioned immediately no matter how small. This includes staff who are below the Lower Earnings Threshold (LET). Make sure that employee hours are recorded properly and accurately on a weekly basis. This means that you will have ready access to all the information you need for RTI, fully up-to-date, and have accurate records of all other information no matter how small in case it should be needed for any reason and at any point.
