Archive for November, 2010

A real mixture of news subjects this week.  How may tax exemptions for income tax can you think of? – there are far more than you might expect.  How much is the maternity grant and who are entitled to it?  What is form P161 used for?  Should the Directgov and Business Link websites merge? And, [...]

On 23 November, the Government announced a range of new measures to restrict the number of workers that can come to the UK to work from outside Europe. The changes, which are intended to apply from April 2011, are to introduce an annual limit of 21,700 for those coming into the UK under the skilled [...]

The Institute of Payroll Professionals (IPP) announced on 11 November that the Privy Council had approved the grant of a Royal Charter.  It is expected that the IPP will become the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) from 1 January 2011. Further information: The Institute of Payroll Professionals obtains Chartered Status

In a consultation document issued at the time of the 2009 Pre-Budget Report, HMRC sought views on a number of proposed changes to the statutory Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Scheme rules.  They were originally introduced by means of the Finance Act 2004 but have been developed extensively since then and now apply to income tax [...]

New amendment Regulations extend the circumstances in which a person is eligible for a Sure Start Maternity Grant to those people awarded residence orders; guardians; those with whom children are placed for adoption and those who have adopted a child under a recognised adoption which takes place outside the UK.  They also add the father [...]

Form P161 is used by individuals to ask HMRC to review their tax code because they have started to receive an occupational or personal pension are nearing State Pension age and may soon be getting their State Pension already receive a pension but are nearing age 65 and may be entitled to higher tax allowances. [...]

Section 317 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 provides a tax exemption for the provision of free or subsidised meals provided for employees in a canteen or on the employer’s business premises.  By means of provisions in the Finance Act 2010, a further condition has been added so that, from April 2011, [...]

The legislation governing the introduction of automatic pension scheme enrolment from 2012 provides for the establishment of a statutory pension scheme that may be used by employers to meet their statutory obligations.  The scheme is known as the National Employment Savings Trust, or “NEST” for short. NEST will operate with two charging elements: an annual [...]

A Report published on 22 November argues for the delivery of public services by online or other digital means as the “default” method of delivery. It calls for radical improvement to the Government’s Internet-based services to provide higher quality and more convenient 24/7 services to users. The Report includes proposals to make all of government’s [...]

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) is tasked with reviewing the simplifying of tax reliefs and small business taxation (including the IR35 rules) and making recommendations to the Chancellor in advance of Budget 2011. On 8 November, the OTS published the first ever comprehensive list of the UK’s tax reliefs and allowances on its website, [...]

The Treasury and Resources Department has published its 2011 Budget Report and it is proposed that personal income tax allowances will remain at their current level.  No increase is proposed to the standard rate of income tax.  The States will consider the proposals on 8 December. There are no changes to social insurance contributions rates [...]

The payment of an employee’s professional subscription or membership fees is a benefit in kind that must be reported on form P11D.  It is, however, possible for an employer to obtain a dispensation if certain conditions are met. Where membership is obtained by the employer If the membership is obtained by the employer (i.e. the [...]

Each week we receive a number of payroll questions on our forum, and here are this week’s batch. Can you help with any answers? Forum Posts: For how long should self-certificates provided for SSP purposes be kept? I process all self certs within my company and was wondering if anyone knows how long we should [...]

Would you believe it Payroll-help is now available on the Kindle? And you can get it delivered in it’s entirety for easy reading on the train to work. Give it a try! Payroll Help, UK Payroll and HR News

The first news item this week is HMRC’s explanation of how processing of P11Ds for 2009/10 is going to create further P800 tax calculations and tax bills for employees.  You may well have employees asking why they have received a second tax bill, or a tax refund followed by a tax bill, and HMRC have [...]

The latest weekly informal update (dated 12 November) from HMRC to employer representatives explains how the tax liability adjustments as a result of the processing of P11Ds for 2009/10 will affect the issuing of P800 tax calculations to taxpayers.  In addition to the explanation, there are also a number of FAQs aimed at employers and [...]

The latest weekly informal update (dated 12 November) from HMRC to employer representatives also includes the following important reminder about reporting the death of an employee on form P45. We have seen a few cases of P45s filed online where an employer has unintentionally reported a customer as deceased where this is not in fact [...]

Earlier in 2010, the Social Security Department consulted interested parties on proposals in a Green Paper for the funding of long-term care for the elderly.  A consultation White Paper has now been published to seek views on the Department’s preferred approach.  A similar funding arrangement already operates in Guernsey. In brief, the proposal is to [...]

Employers are required to use their own stationery to print P60s for their employees for 2010.  Revenue approved templates of the P60, in English and Irish versions is available at the links below or from payroll software providers. Further information: ROS Offline Application: Publications Revenue eBrief: P60 Template

The calculation of primary and secondary Class 1 NICs for company directors is the same as for employees in general, except that an annual earnings period is used.  The effect on the director of applying an annual earnings period is that no primary NICs are due until the director’s earnings in the year to date [...]