Archive for April, 2009

This week’s newsletter has a maternity slant, with items that look at further European proposals for improving maternity rights and HMRC’s latest guidance on the taxation of benefits provided during maternity and adoption leave. This second guidance document from HMRC is altogether better reasoned that its predecessor. The May 2008 document, despite being acclaimed as [...]

In May 2008, in a detailed and controversial document entitled “Statutory maternity leave – salary sacrifice and non-cash benefits”, HMRC provided guidance for employers on their statutory obligation to maintain contractual benefits while employees are on maternity leave. Some of the guidance provided was contentious, not simply because the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory [...]

Earlier in April 2009, the government began to consult on European Commission plans to amend the Pregnant Workers Directive. The UK already satisfies most of the improvements, although there are implications for how early maternity leave can start and the period of compulsory leave after the birth. On 16 April, members of the European Parliament’s [...]

A Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) and an Arrangement amending the 1955 Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) between the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man, signed in Douglas on 29 September 2008, entered into force on 2 April 2009. The provisions of the TIEA took effect in the UK and the Isle of Man from [...]

In January 2009, HMRC published an online guide for pension and annuity payers, to supplement the information provided in the CWG2 Employer Further Guide to PAYE and NICs. The document has been updated and reissued. Further information: Guide for pension and annuity payers The UK Payroll News is sponsored by HRD & Payroll Solutions

The Law Clerks Joint Labour Committee has given statutory notice that it has formulated proposals for fixing the statutory minimum rates of remuneration and regulating the statutory conditions of employment of office managers, law clerks/bookkeepers, legal secretaries and office assistants. The last pay increases were agreed in 2007 and came into force on 3 April [...]

Income tax and National Insurance contributions – April 2009 All of the changes to tax and NICs rates, allowances and thresholds that were announced in the Pre-Budget Report (PBR) to take effect from 6 April 2009 are confirmed without any change. Income tax changes – April 2010 The changes announced in PBR to the personal [...]

Wednesday afternoon, 20th May 2009 – London Chamber of Commerce & Industry At a time when the HR department is becoming increasingly important in the development and delivery of businessstrategy, the objective of this session is to offer practical advice and guidance to senior HR professionals on how to manage talent during a downturn, learning [...]

As you will have noticed, this is a two-week newsletter, picking up changes since the end of March. The new tax year has started, bringing with it a number of important compliance issues for employers in addition to the annual update of tax codes and NICs rates. Some of the changes touched on in this [...]

Booklet IR120 Residents and non-residents – Liability to tax in the United Kingdom has been replaced by a new booklet HMRC6, with the same title. It provides guidance for taxpayers who need to consider their residence, ordinary residence and domicile for Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax purposes. It also explains the Remittance Basis and [...]

On 3 April 2009, the Court of Appeal overturned the decisions by both an employment tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal, ruling that there is no requirement for the holiday pay of aircraft pilots to be calculated according to the statutory “week’s pay” rules. This decision, in the case British Airways Plc v Williams & [...]

The November 2007 issue of Notes for Payroll Software Developers stated that, when the new-style P45s come into use, any old-style P45s issued to leavers prior to 6 April 2009 and given to a new employer after that date will only be accepted by HMRC if the starting date is on or before 18 May [...]

In Revenue & Customs Brief 24/09, HMRC introduced, from 6 April 2009, an advisory system of benchmark scale rates that employers with dispensations may use without having to agree specific scale rates after conducting a detailed sampling exercise. The new arrangement applies initially to employers who are applying for their first dispensation or renewing a [...]

A new series of fact sheets has been published to help individuals and businesses understand the changes to the compliance check regime that came into effect with respect to new compliance cases from 1 April 2009. Further information: New compliance checks – fact sheets The UK Payroll News is sponsored by HRD & Payroll Solutions

In response to a question posed by Kate Upcraft, HMRC provided further information about the changes that will be made to the rules for calculating the cash equivalent of automatic company cars provided for disabled drivers. Disabled company car drivers with automatic cars are entitled, under current legislation, to use the CO2 emission rating of [...]

HMRC already has internal quality standard checks for the P35 Employer Annual Return (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/pommanual/paye40050.htm) and has now announced that a similar quality standard is being introduced for the P11D Benefits and Expenses Return. Initially, HMRC has asked that all paper P11D forms submitted should show: employer reference employee’s name employee’s National Insurance number employee’s date [...]

We reported in February the statement published by HMRC about the new Accounts Office sort codes and account numbers that should be used to make monthly and quarterly payments of PAYE tax and NICs from 6 April 2009. The details have now been issued in the Payments section of HMRC’s website. For the time being, [...]

The Regulations that require employers to file their P14 and P35 returns and their in-year PAYE forms online currently apply only to employers with 50 or more employees. Mandatory filing will also apply to “small” employers, i.e. those with fewer than 50 employees, from April 2010, in respect of P14 and P35 returns for the [...]

From 6 April 2009, new regulations came into force that change the approach that HMRC will take in future to non-compliance by employers with the National Minimum Wage (NMW) requirements. In particular, HMRC compliance officers, having carried out an investigation of an employer’s payroll and associated records and interviewed the employer, payroll staff and workers, [...]

On 2 April 2009, amendments to the double taxation agreement with the United Kingdom were confirmed and, both countries having ratified the changes, they came into force on 6 April 2009. A tax information exchange agreement between both countries also entered into force on 2 April 2009. Further information: Tax Co-Operation Agreements with the United [...]