Archive for June, 2011

This week’s news items cover a mixture of subjects, including the arguments going on over the European Parliament’s proposals for 20 weeks of SMP on full pay, a number of compliance and penalty matters, and errors in the E14 SSP booklet discovered by one of our tutors.  We also have a further article on how [...]

A streamlined “Single Compliance Process” is being trialled in 12 HMRC locations to reduce the time taken to complete enquiries. A briefing for tax agents, published on 20 June, explains the development and testing process involved in a limited trial of improvements to HMRC’s enquiry process, known as the Single Compliance Process (SCP). The SCP [...]

HMRC begins consultation on reforms to the remaining tax penalties. Since 2007, HMRC has introduced new penalty structures for common offences across the different tax and duty regimes.  Those that impact on the taxes involved in payroll are: penalties for inaccuracies in returns penalties for late filing penalties for late payment. There are however, over [...]

EU Member States are critical of 20-week full pay proposed, but are criticised for their disrespect for the wishes of the European Parliament In May 2011, the UK government began consulting on proposals to introduce a system of flexible parental leave that would guarantee 6 weeks full pay and 12 weeks reduced pay for mothers, [...]

Rounding errors identified in the “Daily rates table” where there are 7 qualifying days in a week. Vince Ashall, one of The Learn Centre’s tutors, recently identified errors in the SSP Daily rates table on page 6 of the E14 booklet for 2011.  Similar errors appear in the Basic PAYE Tools.  Some of the figures [...]

Proposals to clarify the tax status of individuals coming to work in the UK. There are no statutory definitions of the terms “tax residence” and “ordinary residence”, with the result that there can be uncertainties over the tax status of individuals coming to work in the UK.  A new consultation document, published by HM Treasury [...]

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? Company wide Cash Health Plan We’re looking to enrole all our employees in a basic cash health plan, which the company will pay for. Would this be P11D reportable benefit? More… [...]

A welcome quiet week for news, so just a reminder that the year-end reporting season is nearing its end and all expenses and benefits Returns must be filed, with copies for your employees, by 6 July. Our Employer FAQ looks at dispensations, both the time-saving benefits and how to go about applying for one.  And [...]

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? Expenses reimbursed for cancelled holiday flight ticket My client has recently reimbursed an employee for an EasyJet ticket [£185] which the employee could not take up, as the employer required him [...]

First ever DTC between the UK and Ethiopia signed on 9 June 2011. The text of the new Convention is available at the link below.  The Convention will enter into force once both countries have completed their legislative procedures. Further information: Ethiopia: Double Taxation Convention signed 9 June 2011 Tax Treaties – Signed/not in force

The Scottish Agricultural Wages Board has agreed new rates of pay from October 2012 The Scottish Agricultural Wages Board has proposed the following new wage rates from October 2011: £6.11 (an increase of 15p per hour) for those in the first 26 weeks of employment £6.67 (an increase of 16p per hour) for those employed [...]

Are you aware of the demands of the Bribery Act that comes into force on 1st July? – yes, just days away! You may believe that this sort of thing does not affect you and the people you work with. Indeed the Justice Ministry has indicated that it does not expect a rush of prosecutions [...]

Much misunderstanding appears to exist about the definition of gross misconduct, largely because many employers place a subjective rather than a legal interpretation upon it. If they are particularly annoyed about the behaviour of an employee, they treat the incident as one of gross misconduct. Even worse, much worse, they sack the person “on the [...]

Here we take our monthly 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. Holiday pay statements We have an arrangement whereby we pay holiday pay separately from [...]

Last month we asked what is the longest word you can form from letters on the top row of a standard typewriter keyboard. Well, a few of us who can remember typing our stuff on typewriters came up with the word “typewriter” and felt rather smug. A couple of our colleagues came up with “repertoire” [...]

If an employee is available for work but is unable to attend, is the employer obliged to pay wages?  In many cases it depends on whether what is preventing attendance is ‘avoidable’ or “unavoidable’.  Our Employment Appeal Tribunal report this week illustrates the difference. HM Treasury and HMRC have published a number of consultation documents [...]

Remit for the 2012 Report includes consideration of simplifying the national minimum wage Regulations The Low Pay Commission has been asked to report to the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills by February 2012 with proposals for National Minimum Wage rates that would apply from October 2012. Three particular directions [...]

Getting bored with your work? Feeling frustrated? Not using all your potential in your job? What you need is promotion! Well, perhaps you do, but if so you need to recognise that it usually does not just happen and certainly is unlikely to come on the basis of the length of your service, good timekeeping [...]

If an employer does not continue to pay an employee who is remanded in custody, charged with criminal offences, is that an unlawful deduction from wages? In a decision given on 23 March, but just published, in the case Burns v Santander UK Plc, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled that, if an employee is [...]

HM Treasury does not have enough information on the reliefs being considered for abolition and is seeking clarification from interested parties on the extent to which they are currently being used. The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) is tasked by the Treasury with simplifying tax reliefs and small business taxation (including the IR35 rules). In [...]