Archive for July, 2009

This year’s Finance Bill has received Royal Assent and we intend to include next week a full review and update of its provisions. However, two sets of Regulations, which were waiting for the Bill to become law, have been introduced immediately and are reviewed this week. The first covers the promised changes to the calculation [...]

Promoters of tax avoidance schemes are obliged to disclose information about schemes that fall within specified descriptions within 5 days of the scheme’s being made available or implemented. Following disclosure, HMRC allocates a scheme reference number (SRN) to identify the users of the scheme and promoters must pass the SRN to their clients who, in [...]

In April 2009, HMRC published for consultation draft amendment regulations that would extend the mandatory filing of year-end returns to small employers. Two sets of Regulations have now completed their Parliamentary procedures and come into force from 13 August 2009 (although most of the provisions are effective from 6 April 2010). They make the necessary [...]

A new Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) between the UK and the Turks and Caicos Islands was signed in London on 22 July 2009. The Agreement will enter into force as soon as both governments have completed their domestic legislative procedures needed to give it effect. Further information: Turks and Caicos Islands: Tax Information Exchange [...]

In a new consultation document, HMRC makes new proposals to tackle the culture of “false self-employment” in the construction industry. The Government’s commitment to address this issue was announced at Budget 2009, with a view to legislating to ensure that construction workers engaged in an employment relationship are taxed appropriately. False self-employment occurs where workers [...]

HMRC has launched a new A to Z of expenses and benefits, providing basic guidance to help employers check the tax, NICs and reporting requirements for each type of expense or benefit. Bookmarks to the previous guidance pages should, in most cases, redirect the user to the new page. Each page explains the meaning of [...]

HMRC first put forward proposals to harmonise the methods by which interest is charged across tax regimes in June 2008. Following consultation, HMRC proposed to use the Bank of England Base Rate instead of the “reference rate”, to track changes in the Bank of England Base Rate, even if that means changing the interest rates [...]

HMRC has now made an update available to correct the errors identified recently in the June 2009 version of the Employer CD-ROM. It can be downloaded from the link below. Further information: In-year Employer CD-ROM 2009 updates The UK Payroll News is sponsored by HRD & Payroll Solutions

A new Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) between the UK and Anguilla was signed in London on 20 July 2009. The Agreement will enter into force as soon as both governments have completed their domestic legislative procedures needed to give it effect. Further information: Anguilla: Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) The UK Payroll News is [...]

The Minister for Labour Affairs, Dara Calleary, has proposed bringing the Joint Labour Committee and Registered Employment Agreements systems into line with the procedures already established under the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000 that allow individual employers to submit “inability to pay” claims to the Labour Court for adjudication. Section 41 of the National Minimum [...]

A new Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) between the Isle of Man and New Zealand was signed on 27 July 2009. The Agreement will enter into force as soon as both governments have completed their domestic legislative procedures needed to give it effect. Further information: Isle of Man signs Tax Co-Operation Agreements with New Zealand [...]

A new Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) between Guernsey and New Zealand was signed on 23 July 2009. The Agreement will enter into force as soon as both governments have completed their domestic legislative procedures needed to give it effect. Further information: Guernsey/New Zealand Tax Information Exchange Agreement The UK Payroll News is sponsored by [...]

The only news item in this week’s newsletter is the publication of consultation documents in Jersey relating to the next minimum wage increase there in April 2010. The United Kingdom, Jersey and the Isle of Man all have minimum wage legislation – only Guernsey does not. This is likely to change and last week, you [...]

The Employment Forum has published a series of documents to gather views on increasing Jersey’s minimum wage from April 2010 and on three specific issues, namely whether Jersey should follow the UK’s decision to prevent tips and gratuities being used by employers to meet their minimum wage obligations whether other offsets and benefits, such as [...]

HMRC publishes the specialist “Notes for Payroll Software Developers” five times a year. It is written to give developers plenty of notice of new things and the latest issue is no exception, with information about a number of changes planned for April 2011. We now know, for example, the car codes that will be used [...]

As announced in the 2009 Budget, the calculation of the car benefit charge is to be simplified considerably from April 2011. There are currently eight different types of car, each with its own code letter for use on form P46(Car). These will be reduced to three when the changes are implemented. HMRC has announced the [...]

All employers (i.e. PAYE schemes) with 50 or more employees are required to file their P45 and P46 forms online. In December 2009, HMRC will begin to issue penalty warning letters to those who are not doing so. These warning letters will relate to paper submissions that the employers made in the second and third [...]

In March 2008, HMRC published a consultation document entitled Modernising PAYE Processes for Students. It addressed concerns that, as a result of changing student work patterns, the P38(S) procedures may no longer address the needs of most working students. In particular only about 20% of students earn enough in a tax year to pay tax [...]

Starting in June 2009, HMRC began to upgrade its computer systems to bring all PAYE records together into a single system, accessible from all of its tax offices. The fully upgraded systems began to be available to HMRC staff from 29 June and will be in full use from 20 July. As part of the [...]

Employers (i.e. PAYE schemes) with fewer than 50 employees will be required to file their P35 Employer Annual Return and P14 End of Year Summaries online for the 2009/10 tax year by 19 May 2010. Of those employers falling within this category, HMRC states that around 350,000 are not yet filing any returns or forms [...]