Currently, the treatment of individuals provided with living accommodation as “representative occupiers” is identified as an ESC.
“Representative occupiers” can apply to posts which existed prior to 6 April 1977, where an employee:
• Resides in living accommodation provided rent-free by the employer; and • Is required to reside in this living accommodation and not permitted to reside anywhere else, as stipulated in the contract of employment; and • Occupies the house for the purpose of the employer, because their employment requires them to reside in that particular accommodation in order to carry out their job duties more effectively HMRC deals with the collection and management of taxes, and may use concessionary treatment which effectively provides a reduced tax liability where a concession is to deal with minor or transitionary anomalies and meeting hardship at the margins. Following a decision in the Court of Appeal, HMRC committed to review the position of all published ESCs and those not published as ESCs but identified as such. The ESC on “representative occupiers” does not meet conditions laid out for the collection and management of taxes and should either be legislated for or withdrawn. The government is not going to legislate for this ESC and so it will be withdrawn with effect from 6 April 2021. The timing of the announcement means that both employers and employees who will be affected by this change have sufficient time to make the relevant contractual adjustments. It also means that employers will have time to consult with HMRC on possible entitlement to statutory exemptions for any employees who may be affected by this change. Queries should be submitted to the Employer Helpline, or an employer’s HMRC Customer Compliance Manager, where applicable.
The relevant pages in the Employment Manual have been updated to reflect the withdrawal of the concessionary treatment, and it is advisable for anyone that this may impact to familiarise themselves with the pages.
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Form P55 for tax year 2020-21 6 May 2020
HMRC has published the new P55 repayment claim form for use for the tax year 2020-21.The form P55 should be used by individuals to reclaim an overpayment of tax when they have flexibly accessed part of their pension pot. They can claim back from HMRC if they have either flexibly accessed their pension, they have taken only part of their pension and will not be taking regular payments, or if their pension body is unable to make the tax refund. Claims can be made by either using the online form, completing the form on-screen, printing it off and posting it to HMRC or printing off the form, completing it by hand and posting it to HMRC. In order to claim online, claimants will require a Government Gateway user ID and password, but if they do not have a user ID, one will be created when they claim.
For individuals who have used all of their pension pot, they should use form P50Z or, alternatively, form P53Z.
The form should be completed with details of any other income that an individual expects to receive during the tax year to ensure that HMRC repay the correct tax figure. Where final figures are not known, the most accurate estimate needs to provided, in whole numbers, and rounded down to the nearest pound.
HMRC will perform checks at the end of the tax year and contact individuals if the amount is different. Individuals should retain their pay and tax records.
Older individuals with lower incomes can call the independent charity Tax Help for Older People if they require free tax advice.
Individuals not classed as a UK resident for the purposes of tax do not need to complete the form and can either check how to make a claim under a double taxation agreement or phone the Savings helpline.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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