Archived HR & Payroll Newsletters
Below you can find a few of our most recent HR & Payroll newsletters.
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HR & Payroll Newsletters
June 2009
Introduction
Just a few small items of news this week, but the adjusted definition of “qualifying child care” has prompted a reworking of our Employer FAQ on the tax and NICs liabilities of childcare vouchers.Probably the most popular benefit provided under salary sacrifice schemes at the present time, childcare vouchers enjoy what is called a “limited” tax and NICs exemption – they are not entirely tax free but are only taxable to the extent that their value exceeds £55 per week or £243 per month.
Strictly speaking, however, that simple statement of tax liability is incorrect – it describes a “simplified” approach granted by HMRC in circumstances where the same value of childcare vouchers is provided every pay period and the value never exceeds the £55 or £243 limits.
But, if the value of vouchers provided varies each pay period and/or exceeds the limit, the “statutory” calculation of tax and NICs liabilities must be used and, if you have not come across it before, you are not going to like what you read.
Introduction
A new feature this week is the inclusion of a payroll calendar for Ireland.
This week from Europe comes the prospect of improvements to the existing right to parental leave, a lesser-used family benefit that provides up to 3 months leave to care for a child up to six years of age. There is no statutory entitlement to payment during the leave and, for this reason, take up is likely very low. A new Directive may prompt a longer period of entitlement, but still no payment requirement.
Introduction
This week’s big story is the Law Lords’ decision in the Stringer case, supposedly bringing to an end a seven-year saga involving the payment of holiday pay to workers on extended sick leave. But the repercussions for employers and sick employees are considerable, with the HR press predicting widespread dismissals of sick employees and expensive claims to tribunals and courts for non-payment of holiday entitlements.Two of this week’s stories involve changes to the wording of Regulations. There is an interesting contrast. In one case, a major and high-profile change involves the deletion of seven words. In the other case, a low-key change that will affect mainly Scottish employers involves extensive reworking of the relevant legislation.
HMRC has taken another step in the move towards payrolling benefits-in-kind. Any readers, whether employers, agents or payroll bureaux, who are already taxing benefits through the payroll are invited to complete questionnaires, describing their experiences.
This week’s Employer FAQ follows up on last week’s coverage of personal service companies with some details about the quite different PAYE and tax implications for managed service companies.
And, finally, who was Comenius and why is his name used for one the European Commission’s education programmes?
Introduction
This week we have confirmation that the weekly maximum rate of Statutory Redundancy Pay will be increasing in October but there will be no change to the rate next February when it might otherwise have been expected to go down.Our Employer FAQ on the IR35 rules for Personal Service Companies has also been updated and next week we hope to include a new FAQ that will explain the tax and NICs arrangements for workers employed in managed service companies.
The changes to Cabinet appointments, about which little information was available at the time of writing, include the merger of BERR and DIUS into a new Department for Business Enterprise and Skills (BES). BERR is the most difficult and unhelpful of all the government departments for advisers to work with and the merger can hardly be expected to improve that lamentable situation - but at least the new department’s name is more memorable!
Introduction
Last week our FAQ looked at the basic taxation principles of P11 and P9D reporting of benefits-in-kind. This week we turn our attention to the NICs requirements – a common problem area for employers who forget that a number of benefits have Class 1 NICs liabilities which should be handled through the payroll at the time they are provided.Our regular news section includes information about the new “fit to work” doctor’s statements that are planned to come into use from next April. The Government is expecting employers to consider more flexible arrangements in order to make it possible for employees to return to work, even if they are not able to do their regular jobs. HMRC has also published new advisory mileage rates for company cars – now a six-monthly routine.
Topical HR News
You may be thoroughly fed up with reading about the swine flu virus. Yes it is serious but no, it is not cause for panic. Just tell your employees, especially if they behave otherwise, to use then discard paper tissues, wash their hands regularly.....
Danger Lurks!
While we can, and indeed should, marvel at the wonder of Creation, nevertheless it would not pass a health and safety inspection. The world is a dangerous place......
Use Your Brain
If you use a computer software package such as Word you probably have become aware that it can do so many things, yet you use only a small number of them. Well, the brain is rather like that......
May 2009
Introduction
A quiet week with nothing significant to report. Is this the lull before the storm, or the lull after the storm? Hopefully the latter, now that the Budget is behind us, the Finance Bill is working its way through Parliament and you somehow survived last week’s riveting articles.PAYE year-end reporting deadlines have past so now it is time to think about benefits and expenses reporting. To that end, we are reproducing our review of P11D and P9D reporting principles for benefits-in-kind to get you in the mood. Next week we will concentrate on the principles of expenses reporting.
Introduction
However, before you destine this newsletter to your bedside table as the first permanent cure for insomnia, please bear in mind that there is a risk of penalties for answering the P35 Checklist question incorrectly and these 13 new authorised pension payments are, in fact, 13 payments that fall within PAYE calculation procedures for the first time.
This week’s newsletter is unquestionably technical. The lightest of the subjects covered is the £96,000 fine imposed on the owners of a restaurant for employing a number of illegal immigrants. But I predict that few readers will cope with the whole of the “P35 Question 6” discussion and only a handful of die-hard pension payroll enthusiasts will delight in the intricacies of thirteen new types of authorised lump sum and pension payments. But perhaps you will treat those comments as a challenge and prove me wrong.
Introduction
Anyone involved in any way with the employment of temporary agency workers should look carefully at the Government’s proposals to implement the European Directive. The Directive requires equal treatment with the permanent employees of the hirer after not less than 12 weeks. The initial proposals have been published but we are probably less than year away from the introduction of the new rules.The National Minimum Wage features strongly this week, with the Low Pay Commission’s proposals for modest increases in October being accepted by the Government. The Government has given way to the LPC’s annual demand for the adult NMW rate to apply to 21-year-old workers, but this change is delayed until October 2010. The issue of the NMW and tips is also in the news, with the Government confirming that tips will no longer count towards the NMW from October, and confirmation from the Court of Appeal that HMRC’s interpretation of the troncmaster rules is correct.
Our FAQ section this week reproduces the answers to a new series of questions that HMRC has compiled on PAYE procedures for pension payers.