COMPLIANCE
dashboards from 2023 will make it much easier for consumers to find their pension pots, it could create some difficulties for payroll professionals, including managing data quality to ensure people can be accurately matched with their pensions. Jo Donnelly, head of pensions at the Local Government Association and secretary of the Local Government Pension Scheme Advisory Board highlighted the risk that inflation and the cost-of-living crisis brought to pension schemes. A rise in the level of people opting out of their pension scheme would have an immediate impact on fund cashflows and concern was expressed that employees may not fully understand the consequences of their decision to opt out.
Networking in the sun at RSM London
Susan commented, “HMRC has been allocated millions of pounds to expand its compliance and debt management work, and we have certainly been seeing evidence of this increased activity. My advice to any organisation being contacted by HMRC is don’t ignore it and don’t panic. If you already know you have an issue, it is better, from a compliance and penalties point of view, to proactively raise it with HMRC.” The event closed with an update on holiday pay from employment lawyer and RSM director, Charlie Barnes . Following several other high-profile holiday pay cases, the Supreme Court’s recent judgment in Harpur Trust v Brazel established that annual leave entitlement cannot be pro-rated for a part-year worker employed under a permanent contract. The ruling will have a significant impact on the education sector but will also affect any organisation which employs workers with irregular hours on permanent contracts, such as casual workers, zero hours workers or bank workers. Charlie warned that organisations using the 12.07% calculation method (which previously featured in Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration
Service guidance on holiday pay) run a high risk of being non-compliant and underpaying holiday pay. My advice to any organisation being contacted by HMRC is don’t ignore it and don’t panic Shaun Tetley concluded: “The payroll professional’s role is so varied, so this event took them on a whistle-stop tour through payroll to pensions and employment law. Anyone working in payroll needs an understanding of all these key areas. The pensions dashboard continues to evolve and is one to keep close watch on for the future. Given the level of interest shown in the holiday pay changes at this event, we’re now planning a more detailed session with Charlie Barnes on 7 November, as there’s always something to learn.” n
RSM’s tax director, Lee Knight presents
Three speakers from RSM completed the line-up. Employment tax director, Lee Knight (pictured) focused on the tax issues around hybrid working, including: l the provision of home office equipment l travel expenses l the increasingly common challenges caused by homeworking from overseas. Susan Ball, employment tax partner and the current President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation spoke of HMRC’s increasing enforcement activity, with off payroll working (including agency rules and employed v self-employed), furlough, national minimum wage and travel and subsistence being common problem areas.
RSM is a leading audit, tax and consulting firm with 3,660 partners and staff operating from 32 locations throughout the UK. For information and advice on any of the topics covered by RSM, please contact Lee Knight, at lee.knight@rsmuk.com.
Anyone wanting to receive more information and invitations to future events, including the forthcoming holiday pay webinar, please contact Shaun on shaun.tetley@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 85 | November 2022
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