Tier 1 Ent - PAYE amendment query

[f.namxe]

Hello,

I applied for my Tier 1 Ent extension in March 2017 having entered the route Mar 2014. I have been running a business since June 2015 although set up RTI in October 2014 for my salary. I had employees since Sept 2015 and submitted RTI monthly. In Sept 2016, we detected two employees had been left on the payroll for about 3 months after leaving so we kept on submitting their RTI and paying their taxes. I contacted my accountant about this and he amended our PAYE submissions in January 2017. Unfortunately during the period from Sept 16 to Jan 17, we did not make any PAYE payments on advise from the accountant as he wanted to rectify the issues earlier identified from the beginning of the tax year.
Anyway, long story short, we had a significant tax bill crystallise in Jan 17 because of the months of PAYE owed and the accountant adding employee expenses to salaries and using this as the basis for PAYE calculation. This latter error (salaries+expenses) has not been amended but i have been on a payment plan with HMRC to pay off the accrued PAYE bill and this 75% paid off.
I did this because my visa extension was due in March and didn't want any issues with HMRC.

Now, I had an interview in September with a UKVI compliance officer at our business (not working from home but at a business centre so maybe they thought we had a virtual office). The interview went well in my view. We have more than 15 employees, more than 10 of whom are settled. We have OJEU contracts with two local authorities and are on approved supplier frameworks having successfully tendered for council contracts. The interview was conducted three weeks ago, my application has been with UKVI more than 7 months and I'm about to tender for more contracts but need the visa to determine if I can carry on investing in the UK.

I have observed a trend with Tier 1 Gen visa refusals due to tax amendments lately and wonder if anyone has had any issues with PAYE amendments and whether this has affected Tier 1 Ent extension outcomes at all. Just to be clear the amendment and RTI re-submission was done in Jan 2017 and I applied in March 2017.

Is anyone able to shed any light at all on this? Any thoughts would be most welcome.

Many thanks

[marcnath]

Unlike T1 General, T1E should not be affected by PAYE issues. The only requirement is that you should have done things lawfully and it appears you have. So don't worry about it.

[f.namxe]

Oh thanks for responding so quickly Macnarth. That's reassuring.

I would like to give it another week and see if I should ask UKVI to expedite the application as it's holding me back from making any more investment in the business to be honest.

As it is, not so many people who have had interviews have had their applications decided.
I suppose the wait just makes one a bit paranoid!!

What would you suggest for a 7 month-long application - contact MP or raise a complaint??

[zimba]

Tax amendments have been an issue for those Tier 1G applicants who used their self employment income to score points and acquire a visa extension. This has no relevance to Tier 1E route. PAYE amendments are completely different and should not influence your Tier 1E visa unless deception is suspected.