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The law requiring Employers to deduct PAYE tax at source
Source: WhatDoTheyKnow
Authority: HM Revenue and Customs
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SOURCE: WhatDoTheyKnow
SOURCE_URL: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/the_law_requiring_employers_to_d
TITLE: The law requiring Employers to deduct PAYE tax at source
AUTHORITY: HM Revenue and Customs
AUTHORITY_URL: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/hmrc
STATUS: The request was
successful
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REQUEST_SLUG: the_law_requiring_employers_to_d
CAPTURED_AT: 2026-05-19T07:15:09+00:00
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MESSAGE 1 [outgoing]
HEADER: mark: jennings TM
2 May 2009
Unknown
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Sir or Madam,
Please highlight the text(s) and relevant legislation requiring Employers to pay PAYE tax at source on the Employees income.
Why can't this be done by the Employee as Self Assessment.
Yours faithfully,
markj TM
================================================================================
MESSAGE 2 [incoming]
HEADER: Armstrong, Michael (G&S),
HM Revenue and Customs
2 June 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Attachment
090601 Jennings FOI request.pdf
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Dear Mr Jennings
Please find attached a response to your Freedom of Information request.
Regards
Michael
Michael Armstrong
Freedom of Information Unit
Room BP5001 | Dunstanburgh House | Longbenton
Newcastle Upon Tyne | NE98 1ZZ
Tel: 0191 2253065 | Fax: 0191 2253098
email (internal): Armstrong, Michael (G&S)
email (external): [1][
email address
]
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ATTACHMENT TEXT EXTRACTION / OCR
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ATTACHMENT: 090601_Jennings_FOI_request.pdf
TEXT_FILE: 090601_Jennings_FOI_request.pdf.txt
METHOD: pdf_native
OCR_USED: False
PAGES: 3
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--- PDF page 1 ---
Lynn Carroll
PAYE, SA & NICs
1 E/08
100 Parliament Street
London
SW1A 2BQ
Tel
020 7174 2636
Fax
020 7147 2531
Mark Jennings
Email xxxx.xxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xxx.xx
www.hmrc.gov.uk
Date
2 June 2009
Our ref
FOI 1480/09
Your ref
Dear Mr Jennings
Thank you for your email which HM Revenue & Customs received on 2 May 2009.
You requested the following information “please highlight the text(s) and relevant
legislation requiring Employers to pay PAYE at source one the Employees income.
Why can’t this be done by the Employee as Self Assessment”.
Under section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in response to
a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you. The information you requested
is available on the Department’s website (www.hmrc.gov.uk). If you do not have
access to the Internet at home, you may be able to use facilities at your local public
library.
So that you can better locate any further information you need on the HMRC website
I can advise as follows:
The employer must ensure that PAYE is deducted because existing
legislation places an obligation on the employer to do so.
--- PDF page 2 ---
The automatic obligation of employer to operate PAYE is confirmed in Sections 4 and
5 of the Income Tax Earnings and Pensions Act 2003 (ITEPA). Section 684 of ITEPA
is the authority for the PAYE Regulations which deal with routine payments such as
cash wages, salaries or pensions paid by UK employers or pension providers. The
Income Tax (PAYE) Regulations 2003 (Statutory Instrument 2682/2003) set out in
detail how the PAYE system will operate. The regulations assign responsibilities to
employers such as:
Regulation 21 provides "On making a relevant payment to an employee during a tax
year, an employer must deduct or repay tax in accordance…"
Regulation 68 determines how much an employer must be pay to the HMRC for a
tax period.
Regulation 73 requires an employer to deliver an annual return to HMRC.
The above Regulations illustrate that the relevant obligations fall upon an employer,
not the employee or any agent or intermediary of an employer. Employers can
use payroll agents, solicitors, accountants, etc to help them comply with their PAYE
obligations but there is nothing in the legislation or PAYE Regulations which enables
an employer to escape the legal responsibility to operate PAYE and it is the employer
that HMRC will enforce an underpayment of PAYE against.
In general PAYE deducts the tax due on employment income and may also be used
to deduct tax due on other income (e.g. investment or rental income) up to a certain
level. So an employee with relatively straightforward tax affairs won’t need to
complete a self-assessment tax return. An employee can ask to complete a tax
return at any time e.g. to claim a particular tax relief or exemption.
However, there is no legislative provision that allows an employee to choose to pay
tax thorough self-assessment as an alternative to the employer deducting tax under
PAYE.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to
quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not happy with this reply you may request a review by writing to HMRC FOI
Team, Room 4/52, 100 Parliament Street London SWIA 2BQ. You must request a
--- PDF page 3 ---
review within 2 months of the date of this letter. It would assist our review if you set
out which aspects of the reply concern you and why you are dissatisfied.
If you are not content with the outcome of an internal review, you may apply directly
to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner will
not usually consider a case unless you have exhausted the internal review procedure
provided by HMRC. He can be contacted at The Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours faithfully
Lynn Carroll
Policy Advisor
PAYE SA NICs