Archive for the ‘Expenses’ Category

Christmas is coming – rules for gifts to staff

Sunday, November 13th, 2016

From 6 April 2016 new rules were introduced to allow employers to provide their directors and employees with certain “trivial” benefits in kind, tax-free.

The new rules were a simplification measure so that certain benefits in kind would not need to be reported to HMRC, as well as being tax free for the employee. There are of course a number of conditions that need to be satisfied to qualify for the exemption.

CONDITIONS FOR THE EXEMPTION TO APPLY:

• the cost of providing the benefit does not exceed £50
• the benefit is not cash or a cash voucher
• the employee is not entitled to the benefit as part of any contractual obligation such as a salary sacrifice scheme
• the benefit is not provided in recognition of particular services performed by the employee as part of their employment duties (or in anticipation of such services)

So this exemption will generally apply to small gifts to staff at Christmas or on their birthday.

Prior to this change in the rules, the benefit in kind would have had to be reported on the employee’s P11D form at the end of the year, or alternatively the employer would have dealt with the tax and national insurance under a PAYE settlement agreement. Under such an arrangement a £50 Christmas turkey to a higher rate taxpayer could end up costing the employer nearly £95!
Note that where the employer is a “close” company and the benefit is provided to an individual who is a director or other office holder of the company, the exemption is capped at a total cost of £300 in the tax year.

Any questions

Please feel free to contact us if you are considering taking advantage of this new exemption.

National Minimum Wage Rate

Wednesday, October 12th, 2016

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) is a minimum amount per hour that most workers in the UK are entitled to be paid. NMW rates increases come into effect on 1 October 2016.

  • the rate for 21 to 24 year olds will increase by 25 pence to £6.95 per hour
  • the rate for 18 to 20 year olds will increase by 25 pence to £5.55 per hour
  • the rate for 16 to 17 year olds will increase by 13 pence to £4.00 per hour
  • the apprentice rate will increase by 10 pence to £3.40 per hour.

The mandatory National Living Wage (NLW) applies for workers aged 25 and above. This is £7.20 an hour.

NLW and NMW rates will in the future be uprated every April starting in April 2017.

Penalties

Penalties may be levied on employers where HMRC believe underpayments have occurred and HMRC may ‘name and shame’ non-compliant employers.

National Living Wage hits small business costs

According to research, 47% of small business owners blame increased wages following the introduction of the NLW as the main contributor to rising costs.

The research, carried out by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), revealed that a third of FSB members claim that the NLW has led to a small increase in their wage costs while one in five have said that their staff costs have increased significantly. Although 59% of FSB members absorbed the increased costs through reduced profitability, 35% have increased prices, 24% reduced staff hours and 23% cut investment.

Updated guidance

HMRC have updated their guidance on payroll reporting including what employers should include on the Full Payment Submission (FPS) and Employer Payment Summary (EPS) returns.

Please contact us if you would like help with your payroll.

Internet links: ACAS article FSB press release Payroll guidance

Benefits and expenses – bespoke scale rates

Wednesday, March 9th, 2016

From 6 April 2016 there are a lot of changes to the way in which benefits and expenses are reported to HMRC.

HMRC have set out the maximum tax and NICs free allowances that can be paid by employers to employees for subsistence. Subject to qualifying conditions, the amounts are set out below:

 

Minimum journey time Maximum amount of meal allowance
5 hours £5
10 hours £10
15 hours £25

 

Where a meal allowance of £5 or £10 is paid and the qualifying journey in respect of which it is paid lasts beyond 8pm a supplementary rate of £10 can be paid.

Employers may choose to reimburse employees for the actual costs incurred. However where employers wish to use bespoke rates other than those set out above, they will need to apply for approval from HMRC for bespoke rates.

HMRC have issued an online application form to allow employers to request approval for these bespoke amounts. This should state the rate that the employer wishes to pay and also needs to demonstrate that the amount is a reasonable estimate of the amount of expenses actually incurred by the employees.

To establish these amounts, HMRC have confirmed that the employer should carry out a sampling exercise to verify the actual expenses incurred by employees. We would be happy to advise you on the sampling which would need to be carried out for your business.

In addition, employers will need to have a checking system in place which ensures that the payments or reimbursements are only make on occasions where the employee would be entitled to a deduction from their earnings and that the employees have actually incurred and paid the amounts.

Once approval has been given by HMRC, they will issue an approval notice which sets out the date from which the approval is given and what expenses are covered. It will also state the date when the approval notice ends which will be no later than five years from the start date.

Please do get in touch if you would like help with benefits and expense reporting or agreeing Bespoke rates.

Internet links:

GOV.UK

HMRC