A MOBILE app has been developed to help SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) avoid late payment penalties.

The innovation is the result of a collaboration between Edinburgh tech start-up Bemo and PwC.

The My Returns Reminder app can be downloaded for free and notifies users of forthcoming HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) deadlines, covering corporation tax, confirmation statements, annual accounts, PAYE (pay as you earn) and VAT (valued added tax) payments.

The idea was hatched when Bemo took part in a programme run by PwC which aims to bridge the gap between large companies seeking innovative solutions and smaller firms looking to scale-up. The SCALE programme launched last year in partnership with tech incubator Codebase. Bemo is now based at the Codebase branch in Edinburgh.

Douglas Shand, head of innovation and technology at PwC in Scotland, said: “The launch of My Returns Reminder is a significant moment for our SCALE programme as it embodies what we are trying to achieve by illustrating how innovation works in modern business.

“When PwC realised there was demand for such an app, Bemo was the obvious choice for collaboration. If we hold our SCALE partners up as exemplars then we should be ready to step up ourselves to collaborate with them, and that is what we’ve done here.”