At the start of the pandemic, the postal route for submitting documents was suspended and applicants had to use the EU Exit: ID Document Check app . Some applicants were unable to access the app, which delayed their application. In- line with public health guidance, the support offices have now reopened to process postal applications. Support via email and telephone can still be accessed seven days a week via the EU Settlement Resolution Centre. Unfortunately, the ID document scanner locations are still suspended following the latest public health guidance to protect staff. However, the Home Office has advised that they together with their delivery partners are keeping the situation under constant review and will endeavour to reinstate ID document scanner locations to their original capacity as soon as possible. Applicants are reminded that there is still more than a year left before the deadline of 30 June 2021 for applications to the EU Settlement Scheme. The Home Office’s latest statistics confirmed that so far there have been more than 3.5 million applications to the scheme with more than 3.2 million applications concluded.
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Temporary exemption to Income tax and NICs due on home office equipment due to COVID19 measures 1 June 2020
A temporary exemption will operate from 11 June 2020 and for the remainder of the 2020-2021 tax year
Employers may have asked employees to purchase equipment and materials to enable their home-office set up due to the Coronavirus lockdown measures, which require employees to ‘work from home where they can’.
Employers will benefit from a temporary lifting of a reporting measures for Income Tax and NICs where the following two conditions are met:
• Equipment is obtained for the sole purpose of enabling the employee to work from home as a result of the coronavirus outbreak
• The provision of the equipment would have been exempt from income tax under section 316 of ITEPA if it had been provided directly to the employee by or on behalf of the employer
Section 316 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA 2003) provides a tax exemption where an employer provides home office equipment directly and retains ownership of that equipment, and the employee’s private use is not significant.
This current exemption does not extend to employer reimbursements for employee expenditure on home- office equipment.
As required by section 210(2) ITEPA 2003, the exemption will be conditional on the benefit of any reimbursement in respect of home-office equipment expenses being made available to all of an employer’s employees generally on similar terms.
The exemption is a temporary measure that will apply from the day after regulations come into force until, stated to be from 11 June 2020 until the end of the tax year 2020-21.
Meanwhile, HMRC will exercise its collection and management discretion and will not collect tax and NICs due on any reimbursed payments made from 16 March 2020 until the regulations take effect, provided the relevant conditions are met.
A tax information and impact note (TIIN) has been published on Gov.uk
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The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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