Draft legislation was published in May aimed at improving the range of data collected by HMRC. The proposed changes will require businesses to provide more detailed information to HMRC via self assessment (SA) and PAYE real-time information (RTI) returns in three main areas:

• start and end dates of self-employment;
• dividend income received by shareholders in owner-managed businesses; and
• employee hours worked.

Employers currently populate the RTI return with a broad estimate of employee hours worked according to bands. Under the new rules, they will be required to report the actual number of hours worked by each employee where the employee is paid an hourly rate. Where the employee is paid based on a number of hours specified in the employment contract, the employer will need to report the contracted number of hours on the RTI return.

HMRC has announced that the requirement to report detailed employee hours through RTI will be pushed back until at least April 2026, giving businesses time to prepare for the changes.

The additional SA reporting requirements are still expected to take effect from April 2025 for self-employed taxpayers and company owner-managers.

If you are self-employed you will need to provide the start and end dates of your self-employment on your SA returns from 6 April 2025.

If you carry on your personal business through a company and remunerate yourself by way of dividends, these will need to be declared on your SA return separately from other dividends received. The percentage share you hold in your own company must also be disclosed on your SA return.