From April 2018 termination payments over £30,000, which are subject to Income Tax, will also be subject to employer’s National Insurance Contributions.
read more
Employees, who are away from their main workplace because they are working at a temporary site, or are travelling for business reasons, can claim reimbursement for the cost of meals eaten during those periods. There is no cap on the amount that can be claimed from their employer, but the employee must provide receipts to support the expense claim.
read more
The Employment Allowance gives almost every employer a credit worth of up to £2,000 to set against their NIC bill. This credit will increase to £3,000 for 2016/2017, which may help to offset the costs of the higher “living wage” payable from 1 April 2016.
read more
From 6 April 2016 the law will be changed to make it clear that employees are not taxed if they receive a trivial benefit or trivial benefits from their employer provided each is not worth more than £50. There are restrictions that the trivial benefit must not be cash or a voucher that can be converted into cash. It could be a box of chocolates, a bottle of wine or bunch of flowers.
read more
If you are being chased by HMRC to pay any amounts due, ignoring these demands are now not an option.
From last October HMRC have been given the powers to directly recover debts owing to them from any bank accounts, including ISA accounts and business accounts.
HMRC can demand payment of tax earlier than it would otherwise be payable. The Accelerated Payment Notice is only issued in cases where the amount of tax due is disputed as a result of an investigation or court case.
read more
Almost all private sector employers can claim the annual employment allowance worth up to £2,000, to set against employers NIC in the tax year 2015/2016. Not all employers are eligible for the allowance and eligibility can be checked on the HMRC website. This allowance is not available for:
read more
The main National Minimum Wage Rate, for those 21 and over, increased from £6.50 to £6.70 per hour. It is essential that employers identify when an employee has moved into a new age band to ensure they pay the full National Wage due from that point. The maximum penalty for failing to pay the right amount is now £20,000 per employee.
read more
There will be changes from April 2016 onwards.
The wages of young workers aged under 21 are already free of employer’s National Insurance Contributions as long as they earn no more than £815 per week.
All employers have final responsibility for complying with payroll law – regardless of whether or not they outsource their payroll administration. As a result, they will be liable for any mistakes that occur and they will bear the cost of any fines that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) decides to levy.
So, if payroll falls within your remit, how can you ensure that your organisation stays on the right side of the law?
read more
