Professional April 2021

Payroll news

Advisory fuel rates THE ADVISORY fuel rates changed with effect 1 March 2021 and apply, until further notice, to all journeys made on or after this date. For one month from the date of change, employers could choose to use either the previous or revised rates. Employers may therefore make or require supplementary payments if they so wish but are under no obligation to do either.

Off-payroll working IN FEBRUARY, HMRC published a policy paper (http://bit.ly/38NUuuJ), briefing on how it plans to support organisations to comply with the changes to the off-payroll working (OPW) rules from 6 April 2021. The briefing follows publication of detailed guidance in HMRC’s Employment Status Manual and its comprehensive programme of education and support activity. The briefing confirms that HMRC will take a ‘light touch’ approach to penalties, and that penalties will not have to be paid for inaccuracies in the first twelve months relating to the OPW rules, regardless of when the inaccuracies are identified, unless evidence of deliberate non-compliance is discovered. HMRC has also committed to not use information acquired as a result of the changes to the OPW rules to open a new compliance enquiry into returns for tax years before 2021/22, unless there is reason to suspect fraud or criminal behaviour. In March, HMRC published a policy paper (http://bit.ly/2NoPipF) detailing technical changes to the OPW rules to make sure they operate as intended from 6 April 2021. Legislation will be introduced via Finance Bill 2021, to: ● address an unintended widening of the conditions where an intermediary is a company ● improve the operation of the rules by extending the provision of information to the intermediary, as well as the worker ● improve the operation of the rules by extending the consequences of providing fraudulent information to any UK-based party in the labour supply chain.

Engine size Petrol

Diesel

LPG

Up to 1400ccvv

10p

7p

9p

1401cc to 1600cc

12p

8p

1601cc to 2000cc

11p

Over 2000cc

18p

12p

12p

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will accept that if the employer pays up to 4 pence per mile when reimbursing their employees for business travel in a fully electric company car there is no taxable profit and no class 1 National Insurance contributions (NICs) to pay. The advisory electricity rate will be published alongside advisory fuel rates and kept under review.

And briefly… ● Gender pay gap – The Equality and Human Rights Commission announced in February that because of the pandemic the due date for gender pay gap reporting is postponed to 5 October 2021 (http://bit.ly/3eIWS9R). ● CJRS claims – The list of employers (http://bit.ly/30QwJxu) that submitted claims under the coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS) for the period of December 2020 has been amended to include the amounts of those claims, within a banded range. The details will continue to be updated to reflect any amendments, or repayments made. Claim information for January 2021 will be published online at the end of March 2021. ● Student loan Plan 4 guidance – The guidance on GOV.UK has been updated to include information for employers operating off-payroll and new Plan type 4 student loan deductions. ● Starter checklists – HMRC has released a new version of the starter checklist (http://bit.ly/3bRikHO) and the PAYE: expat starter checklist (http:// bit.ly/3eHzQ36).

Increase of limits THE EMPLOYMENT Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2021 (http://bit.ly/311wBvv) came into force on 6 April 2021 in England, Wales and Scotland. (Amounts for Northern Ireland have not yet been announced.) ● Week’s pay – The maximum amount for the purpose of calculating a redundancy payment or for various awards including the basic or additional award of compensation for unfair dismissal, increases to £544. ● Guarantee payment – The limit on amount of guarantee payment payable to an employee in respect of any day is unchanged at £30.00. Tax andNICs exemptions THE TEMPORARY income tax and NICs exemption applicable to the cost of home office equipment when an employer reimburses a member of staff working at home because of coronavirus, has been extended until April 2022. The guidance pages on GOV.UK have been updated (http://bit.ly/3cGqkL1). HMRC’s policy paper Income Tax exemption for employer-reimbursed coronavirus antigen tests (http://bit.ly/3vuX7v8) confirms that income tax and NICs exemptions for employer-reimbursed coronavirus antigen tests will apply in both tax years 2020/21 and 2021/22. The exemption will apply retrospectively for the tax year 2020/21.

Diary dates

Last day for submitting a real time information employer payment summary to apply to tax month 12

19 April

Deadline for payment of PAYE and NICs etc to HMRC’s Accounts Office by non-electronic method. Add ‘2112’ to accounts office reference to ensure accurate payment allocation. Deadline for payment of PAYE and NICs etc to HMRC’s Accounts Office by electronic method. Add ‘2112’ to accounts office refer- ence to ensure accurate payment allocation.

22 April

Last day of tax month 1

5 May

First day of tax month 2

6 May

25

| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |

Issue 69 | April 2021

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