Archive for August, 2010

A small Scottish company, whose employees had to travel extensively around Scotland, had, for many years, made a number of cars, including two prestige cars, available to all of the employees for business use.  HMRC, following a compliance audit, decided that the cars did not meet the statutory conditions for categorising company cars as pool [...]

New EU legislation came into force from 4 August, providing extended social protection rights for self-employed women and for the spouses and life partners of self-employed workers, particularly in cases of maternity.  The minimum entitlement is to 14 weeks’ maternity leave and state maternity allowance.  They also become entitled to social security coverage, such as [...]

Under the provisions of section 246 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA), no liability to income tax arises in respect of the provision of transport for a disabled employee, or the payment or reimbursement of expenses incurred on such transport, where the transport is provided or the expenses are incurred in [...]

In order to identify correctly the tax charge that applies to the various types of termination payments, HMRC describes a procedure – a “logical sequence” – that must be followed in respect of each element of a termination package.  Assuming first of all that a termination payment or benefit is not being made from an [...]

Many employers operate Cycle-to-Work schemes under which employees are loaned cycles and cyclists’ safety equipment and, to take advantage of the applicable tax exemption, payments are made by employees using a salary sacrifice arrangement. At the end of the loan period, no tax charge arises if the cycle and related equipment are sold to the [...]

The principal conditions that must currently be met in order to take advantage of the tax exemption for the provision of subsidised meals, as set out in section 317 of ITEPA, are that the meals are provided on a reasonable scale, and all employees, or all of them at a particular location, may obtain a [...]

All of the changes to company car and van benefits, and to the related fuel benefits, from the current tax year up to 2014/15, such as the introduction of new charging provisions for zero emission cars and vans, low emission cars and ultra-low emission cars, have been made to the relevant pages in HMRC’s Employment [...]

It’s the holiday season and you may be thinking of employing a student solely during their summer, winter or Easter holidays. If this is the case then you may be able to pay them without deducting PAYE tax. To pay a student without deducting PAYE tax, the student needs to fill in the declaration on [...]

HMRC’s Employment Income Manual and National Insurance Manual give guidance on the tax and NICs liabilities that arise when an employer pays driving-related penalties and fines. Parking penalties and fines The liabilities in the different situations depend on three factors: the person in whose name the car is registered, who is liable for the fine, [...]

The news on the block is that the government intends to remove the virtually compulsory retirement age of 65. Full details are not yet available but even so you are well advised to have a look at the people you employ who are close to or over age 65. Discuss with them what they intend [...]

The current economic climate is causing us all, individuals and organisations, to look for ways of reducing our costs, and it is apparent, even if we are not being told, that we may have to change the way we live or operate in certain areas. Anyone running a business or a small section of an [...]

Here we take our weekly look at answering some of the tricky HR questions we’ve been emailed. If you have a tricky HR question you needs answering email it to help@payroll-help.com and we’ll post the best here with an answer each week. A confidentiality problem We have just discovered that the boyfriend of our finance [...]

We seem to be living in a CV age. Whether we are out of work, looking for alternative employment, or just want to be thought of when an interesting job crops up, it seems expected that we will have a CV ready to hand over. This is not unlike the Victorian practice of leaving one’s [...]

Last month we asked if you could think of a word in the English language that uses all five vowels once only and in correct alphabetical order. The Learn Centre’s Education Director, Ken Gurr – generally recognised as a dangerous intellectual – came in with ABSTEMIOUS. But was he just being FACETIOUS? Now this month. [...]

MOVING TO SERVE YOU EVEN BETTER! From August 2010 we have a new base in larger premises in West Sussex. The move from Banbury will allow us to serve our thousands of customers even better as we expand to meet the rising demand for training around the country. LEARN offers more… LEARN already runs more [...]

This week there are further developments on abolition of the default retirement age and two issues related to the National Minimum Wage. The major topic, however, is HMRC’s discussion document on the reform of PAYE. By April 2012, we could be sending pay, tax and NICs information online to HMRC every time we pay an [...]

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, which came into force on 1 October 2006, provide for a default retirement age (DRA) of 65 that employers can rely on if they wish. The regulations make earlier retirement ages unlawful unless employers can objectively justify them. The regulations also introduced a new statutory right for individuals to [...]

The Finance (No. 2) Act 2010 became law on 27 July 2010, enacting further measures proposed in the Coalition government’s June Budget. The following measures are included. The government is provided with powers to repeal the high income excess relief charge, as long as that is done before 31 December 2010. The intention is to [...]

The changes proposed in the Low Pay Commission’s eleventh National Minimum Wage Report were accepted by the Coalition government in June and included a new minimum rate for apprentices. The Regulations introducing the arrangements for apprentices were made on 22 July and come into force from 1 October 2010. Current rules Currently, apprentices are either [...]

Alongside the 2009 Pre-Budget Report, the Government announced that it intended to address the problem of potentially exploitative arrangements that are implemented for some temporary workers paid at or near the National Minimum Wage (NMW). In February 2010, HM Treasury published a consultation document, entitled National Minimum Wage workers: Travel and subsistence expenses schemes, which [...]