Archive for May, 2011

The First-tier Tax Tribunal is giving out very strange messages – one month declaring that HMRC is too strict in interpreting the term “reasonable excuse”, and the next month applying the term more rigidly than ever.  Have a look at some of the cases and see what you make of them.  What is clear is [...]

Believing an email from HMRC that says the same thing whether an employer makes a test submission or a live submission is not a “reasonable excuse”. In a decision given on 28 April in the case Law Costing Ltd v Revenue & Customs, the First-tier Tax Tribunal ruled that the confirmation email, which is sent [...]

HMRC provides a single address for all P11D and P11D(b) submissions HMRC has set up a dedicated post room to handle paper P11D and P11D(b) Returns submitted by employers.  The address is: HMRC NIC&EO P11D Support Team Tynemouth House Room BP8019 Benton Park View Longbenton Newcastle Upon Tyne NE98 1ZZ Further information: HMRC’s weekly employer [...]

A number of amendments have been made to the CWG2 guidance for employers. HMRC has announced that an updated version of booklet CWG2 Employer Further Guide to PAYE and NICs is available to download.  It shows “03/11” on the back cover.  For employers who have obtained printed copies of the CWG2 from the Employer Orderline, [...]

Retail Prices Index in March 2011 is used to increase the £15,000 threshold from April 2012. The current £15,000 annual threshold for student loan deductions through the payroll was due for review by the last Government in 2011.  The Coalition government decided instead to increase the threshold annually between 2012 and 2016 in line with [...]

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?   Taxed in a foreign country! Can it be reclaimed? My client (I do their book-keeping) is a musical theatre dance agency and we have a problem with a foreign shoot [...]

Our major discussion article this week reviews the Government’s newly published proposals for replacing additional paternity leave with flexible and paid parental leave.  Please read our summary carefully – the changes are radical and require some mental adjustments.  Although parental leave and extending flexible working to all employees are the headline changes, you are more [...]

The Government publishes its “wide-ranging changes” to family leave entitlements and flexible working rights. In September 2010, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced the Government’s plans to develop flexible, family-friendly workplaces.  The detail of these plans has now been published for consultation in a series of documents with the general title “Consultation [...]

Further technical documents are available and a change of mind on EDI submissions. All of HMRC’s RTI technical documents and specifications are now available on its website, at the link below. In response to concerns from the software and banking industries about the timescales for developing the ISO standards for use in the Bacs channel, [...]

Contracting-out for money purchase pension schemes will end in April 2012.  What are the payroll implications? The decision of the previous government to abolish contracting-out for defined contribution pension schemes was included in the Pension Act 2007 and the effective date of 6 April 2012 has now been brought into force by a Commencement Order.  [...]

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? P9d and shared taxis We have a number of P9D employes, who have been given taxi rides home at the end of late night shifts for their own safety. We have [...]

Most of this week’s news focuses on HMRC, with even more cases lost at tax tribunals over what makes a “reasonable excuse” and the introduction of new issues over the standard of proof required when penalties are imposed.  Curiously, all of the recent adverse rulings have been made by one particular Tribunal judge – is [...]

Where HMRC’s computer systems cannot find any trace of a P35 having been filed online, can an employer who claims to have filed it be penalised? In a decision given on 14 April in the case Ballysillan Community Forum v Revenue & Customs, the First-tier Tax Tribunal ruled that, where an employer claims that a [...]

Penalties overturned where taxpayer has a “reasonable excuse” and HMRC cannot disprove that the excuse is factual. Two weeks ago we reported two First-tier Tax Tribunal decisions that overturned HMRC’s interpretation of what constitutes a “reasonable excuse”.  The “excuses” in those cases involved (1) a taxpayer’s belief that his employer had paid the correct amount [...]

Final guidance for Temp agencies and employers published in advance of October 2011 implementation. The European Agency Worker Directive requires that agency workers have the same basic working and employment conditions as they would have if they were employed by and doing the same job for the business for which they are working. The Directive [...]

No online filing exceptions for employers who do not use computers or who cannot afford to buy one or use a service provider. Almost all employers are required by law to file year-end P14 and P35 Returns and in-year P45 and P46-series forms online.  Exceptions are limited to employers operating the simplified deductions scheme for [...]

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?   Commission Agents We are a retailer who pays a number of people a one off commission each year for selling Tshirts etc at University campuses etc. Whilst the commissions can [...]

Hopefully, as you read this, the sun will be shining in through your office window and you will be basking in a glorious early summer. Except that, if it becomes really hot, you may be feeling somewhat uncomfortable. You therefore need to prepare for heatwaves and the discomfort they may cause your employees. You are [...]

Who are your key employees? Why are they so important? Is it because they are vital to the running of the organisation? If so, what happens if they are absent? Will your organisation really come to a standstill? If it does, what will happen to your outstanding orders? And what will happen to the remaining [...]

A lazy employee Can we sack a man for being lazy? Reply No, that is far too subjective. If the man is not performing to a reasonable standard you should have a discussion with him. Explain the standard required and the extent by which he is failing to reach it. Ask if he can identify [...]