When the temporary changes end, employers will be required to carry out retrospective full checks on existing employees who commenced employment during the pandemic. This check must be performed within eight weeks of the COVID-19 measures ending, and this, along with the initial adjusted check should be kept on record. If the employee does not have permission to be in the UK and this is discovered at the point of the retrospective check, the employer must end their employment.
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FAQs: The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme 1 April 2020
The CIPP has answered a list of the most commonly asked questions relating to the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and you can access the information here.
Many more questions will undoubtedly arise as a result of the new measures, and the CIPP would like to reassure members that we are constantly reaching out to various bodies in order to obtain the answers to the elements of the scheme that are perplexing payroll professionals up and down the country.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme FAQs.
CIPP comment
If you have any additional questions not covered within this document, please send them across to the Policy team at policy@cipp.org.uk and we will endeavour to provide you with an official response once we have one.
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Returning NHS workers targeted by tax avoidance promoters (Spotlight 54) 1 April 2020
Individuals who are returning to the National Health Service (NHS) to help to respond to the outbreak of COVID-19 have been targeted by immoral promoters of tax avoidance schemes. HMRC is advising affected individuals to be wary of signing up to these schemes. The schemes on offer all have common features, but they may be described in different ways. One consistent element will be that the scheme attempts to disguise the true level of earnings, which should be subject to Income Tax and National Insurance (NI) contributions.
The scheme will usually use an umbrella company, and the wages offered will consist of two separate payments:
• A first payment declared as earnings which is processed through the umbrella company payroll, ordinarily in line with National Living Wage (NLW) / National Minimum Wage (NMW) levels. This could also be a flat rate payment, for example, £100 a week • A second payment, which the umbrella company states is not taxable. This could be described as a loan, annuity, shares, a capital advance involving mutual, joint or co-ownership, or a payment derived from a revolving line of credit facility, or some other non-taxable form Some of the companies may provide ambiguous explanations as to how the schemes work, so the advice is to be alert to any companies that claim to use personal allowances more effectively, resulting in take home figures of anything between 80% and 85% of gross pay.
The payslips provided by the umbrella company may also look incorrect and might detail the first payment only and / or inaccurate deductions from pay.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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