Payroll news
Payroll news
And briefly… ● EYU guidance – HMRC has revised guidance when completing an earlier year update (EYU) which includes a negative amount of employee NICs (https://bit.ly/2swaCMO). ● NICs settlement returns – HMRC has published 2018–19 with retrospective effect to 6 April 2018. Employers providing facilities for charging vehicles and electricity to employees recharging all-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles at the workplace, and employees receiving the benefit will be affected. ly/2PpHJdH) of these returns which apply where the employer operates an Appendix 6 tax equalisation agreement for employees working abroad. ● Online SSP guide – HMRC has launched a new online interactive guide/course to statutory sick pay (SSP) for employers. Users are invited to give feedback via a survey (https://bit.ly/2OgMYfP). ● Late payment interest rate – The rate of interest that HMRC charges on late payments of income tax and NICs (and other taxes) increased from 3.0% to 3.25% from 21 August 2018. The repayment interest rate is unchanged at 0.5%. ● Substitute P60 certificates – The Specifications for substitute forms P60: RD1 2018 to 2019 is now available (https://bit.ly/2NybKYg). It includes information on: adapting for a pension fund scheme; and where issue is to be made electronically. ● PAYE for gig workers – In its recent paper, Platforms, the platform economy and tax simplification (https://bit.ly/2BZ6njr), the Office of Tax Simplification concludes that amongst other things the government should consider the case for enabling online platforms such as a taxi or delivery firms to operate a system equivalent to pay as you earn (PAYE) for self-employed workers (without affecting their employment status). ● Tax credits claim error – Thousands of tax credit claimants may be missing out by on average £495 as they fail when making a claim to deduct from their income up to £100 a week for statutory maternity pay (or statutory paternity pay, statutory adoption pay, etc) they receive. A full list of what can be deducted can be found here: https://bit. ly/2oqnmBu. Workplace charging of electric cars IT WAS announced at autumn 2017 Budget, that a statutory exemption would be introduced to remove any income tax or NICs liability for charging electric vehicles at work. The legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill updated versions of Appendix A (https://bit. ly/2NA0ydA) and Appendix B (https://bit.
Advisory fuel rates THE ADVISORY fuel rates changed with effect 1 September 2018 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. 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. Employers can, however, use their own rate which better reflects circumstances if, for
example, the cars are more efficient, or if the cost of business travel is higher than the guideline rate.
Engine size
Petrol
Diesel
LPG
Up to 1400cc
12p
7p
10p
1401cc to 1600cc 1601cc to 2000cc
9p
15p
12p 13p
Over 2000cc
22p
13p
Student loan thresholds THE DEPARTMENT for Education has confirmed the annual thresholds of income contingent student loans to have effect from 6 April 2019, as follows: plan 1: £18,935; plan 2: £25,725; with loan repayments on earnings above this calculated at 9%. The new postgraduate loan which comes into effect from 6 April 2019 will have a threshold for 2019–20 of £21,000, with loan repayments on earnings above this calculated at 6%. Monthly assessment of UC THE CHILD Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has published a report (https://bit. ly/2NNt37S) identifying a range of problems arising from the rigid system of monthly assessment in universal credit (UC) that is used to determine awards. Of more than 400 UC cases submitted to CPAG’s early warning system since 2017, 5% include a problem related to assessment periods. Many working claimants are seeing their awards rise and fall month by month purely because of when their paydays and assessment periods fall, making budgeting extremely difficult, while others lose hundreds of pounds a year because of the knock-on effects of these mismatches on work allowances, the benefit cap, passported benefits and discretionary housing payments. The report proposes practical solutions and observes that “the current monthly assessment system is a huge oversimplification which does not reflect the reality of people’s lives and work”.
Diary dates
5 October
Last day of tax month 6
6 October
First day of tax month 7
Last day for submitting a real time information employer payment summary to apply to tax month 6 Deadline for payment of PAYE and NICs etc to HMRC’s Accounts Office by non-electronic method Deadline for payment of PAYE and NICs etc to HMRC’s Accounts Office by electronic method
19 October
22 October
2 November
Due date for returns P46(Car) for quarter to 5 October 2018
25
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 44 | October 2018
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