Archive for March, 2010

On 14 January 2010, in the case Colquhoun v Revenue & Customs, the First Tier Tax Tribunal ruled that Mr. Colquhoun was entitled to have his termination payments reduced by the £30,000 tax exemption. Section 403 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA) provides a tax exemption for the first £30,000 of [...]

Budget 2009 announced that the names and details of serious tax defaulters are to be published on HMRC’s website.  The arrangement will apply to persons who have had a penalty imposed where the potential lost revenue exceeds £25,000.  Section 94 of the Finance Act 2009, which provides the necessary statutory powers, allows HMRC to publish: [...]

A wide variety of topics are covered in this week’s newsletter. A key article is a summary of the Government’s plans to restrict the tax relief on employer-supported childcare – including childcare vouchers – for employees paying tax at 40% or 50%. The changes will not occur until 2011/12 and there are yet a number of unanswered [...]

Our recent review was unable to confirm the date when the new “fit notes” will come into use in Northern Ireland.  The necessary Regulations were made on 1 March 2010 and come into force, as in the rest of the UK, from 6 April 2010. Further information: The Social Security (Medical Evidence) and Statutory Sick [...]

In a newsletter at the end of December 2009 we announced the annual changes to various payments and awards that are reviewed annually on 1 February.  At the time it was expected that the same rates would apply in Northern Ireland from 15 February 2010. However, the Northern Ireland Department for Employment and Learning has [...]

In a decision given on 23 February 2010 in the case Bebbington v Palmer (t/a Sturrey News), the London Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) dismissed the appeal and confirmed that the paper boy in question was not an employee for the purpose of employment rights and his claim for unfair dismissal could not therefore be heard. [...]

The 2010 CD-ROM was issued during February and installation errors are already being reported.  HMRC has issued the following instructions: “If you have encountered a problem where you were asked to run the Diagnostic Tool installed with the Employer CD-ROM: There is an issue with the Employer CD-ROM 2010 which may cause the Data Transfer [...]

HMRC’s online Employment Procedures Manual includes two Appendices (7A and 7B) that provide special modified procedures for PAYE tax and NICs.  Appendix 7A allows employers to make a formal agreement with HMRC in respect of tax-equalised employees coming from abroad that allows estimated NICs to be paid and reported and final correct payments to be [...]

The official rate of interest is reduced from 4.75% to 4.00% from 6 April 2010.  There is no change to the official rates that apply in relation to Japan and Switzerland.  The official interest rate for a particular tax year is published annually in form P11D(INT) and is included on the Employer CD-ROM.  For unknown [...]

In December 2009, HMRC changed the period of notice given to employers of the semi-annual adjustments to the advisory mileage rates for company cars.  Previously any changes had been introduced from January and July each year and a month’s notice was given in advance in each case, allowing employers to introduce the new rates up [...]

From 1 May 2010, new EU Regulations will change the NICs rules for employees working in Europe and their employers.  The following guidance, based on some rather cumbersome material published by HMRC, is the current understanding of the changes but is subject to change. The new rules apply to nationals of EU Member states and, [...]

In September 2009, the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, announced that the tax exemption for childcare vouchers would be phased out from 2011.  Following widespread dissent, this decision was reversed in December 2009 and, instead, it was announced that, still from April 2011, the tax relief on childcare vouchers would be restricted to the basic rate [...]

Two Double Taxation Agreements, between the UK and Libya, and between the UK and Qatar, were formalised by the making of two statutory Orders on 10 February 2010.  Their provisions will  not come into force until the respective countries have complete their legislative procedures. On 3 February 2010, representatives of the UK and Georgia signed [...]

The following taxation measures for the 201/11 tax year were announced by the Minister for the Treasury in his Budget speech on 16 February. The following rates and allowances will apply from 6 April 2010: Personal allowances 2009/10 2010/11 Single person £9,200 £9,300 Married couple (combined) £18,400 £18,600 Additional Personal Allowance £6,300 £6,400 Blind person [...]

It often seems that a lean, agile development environment will always be at odds with the structure and constraints of the PMO. Rick Freedman described the situation well in a recent blog post: Many firms have committed so completely to PMBOK process flows and CMM best practices that many of the core concepts of agile [...]