• Temporary VAT cut extended – Businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors will see the temporary 15% VAT cut extended until the end of March 2021, as they are the sectors most impacted by coronavirus • New Payment Scheme – Businesses who deferred their VAT bills are being given the option to repay in smaller instalments. As opposed to paying a lump sum at the end of March 2020, they will be able to make 11 smaller interest-free payments in the financial year 2021-22 • Self-assessment taxpayers will be given a separate additional 12-month extension from HMRC on the “Time to Pay” facility. This means that payments deferred from July 2020, and any due in January 2021, will now not be payable until January 2022
The plan can be read in full here.
CIPP comment
Whilst further information has been promised, we have been in touch with HMRC already with a growing list of questions – if you have any more questions or, indeed, any comments on today’s announcements, please contact the Policy team at policy@cipp.org.uk.
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HMRC issues Job Support Scheme factsheet 25 September 2020
Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced a new support scheme that will be implemented as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) closes at the end of October.
The Job Support Scheme (JSS) has been initiated to help protect viable jobs in businesses who are facing lower demand over the coming winter months due to Covid-19. The intent is to help their employees remain in employment, and to reduce the amount of possible redundancies due to the current pandemic. Employers will be expected to continue to pay employees for their time worked, however the cost of hours not worked will be split between the employer and the Government (via the JSS) and the employee (via a wage reduction) resulting in the employee being kept in employment.
Those employers who utilise the JSS will also be able to claim the Job Retention Bonus if they meet the eligibility criteria.
As the CJRS closes, the JSS will open on 1 November 2020 and will run for six months, closing in April 2021. HMRC has advised that further guidance will be published shortly, however, they have advised some key details in the form of a Factsheet, which includes:
Who is eligible?
Employers •
All employers with a UK bank account and UK PAYE schemes can claim the grant • The employer does not have to have used the CJRS to be eligible to claim • Large businesses will have to meet a financial assessment test, so the scheme is only available to those whose turnover is lower now than before, due to experiencing difficulties caused by Covid-19. There will be no financial assessment test for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) • The expectation is that large employers using the JSS will not be making capital distributions, such as dividend payments or share buybacks, whilst accessing the grant. Further details will be set out in guidance Employees must be on an employer’s PAYE payroll on or before 23 September 2020. This means a Real Time Information (RTI) submission notifying payment to that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 23 September 2020 • To support viable jobs, for the first three months of the scheme the employee must work at least 33% of their usual hours. After three months, the Government will consider whether to increase this minimum hours threshold
Employees •
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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