Professional December 2023 - January 2024

MY CIPP

The CIPP’s Advisory Service team provides answers to popular questions

How do you treat e-vouchers and NI purposes?

Rules surrounding making deductions from tax refunds Q: An employee has gone absent without leave, with office equipment. Can I deduct the value from a tax refund? A: Yes, you can as tax refunds aren’t considered wages under the unlawful deduction of wages section of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Therefore, you wouldn’t need the employee’s written permission to make the deduction. But of course, it would be wise to write to the employee informing them of what has happened.

September 2023 and has been overpaid for the period of 26-30 September, due to late notification. They have an electric vehicle, processed as a BIK and the vehicle hasn’t been picked up yet. Should the reporting of the BIK of the car have stopped on 25 September since they left employment, or it will continue until the vehicle is picked up in October? I need the information to complete the reversal of the September payslip. A: The BIK actually continues until the vehicle is picked up by your organisation or is otherwise returned by the employee. It’s quite common for BIKs to continue for a while after an employee’s leaving date. The end date for the BIK is when the benefit is no longer made available to the employee. Reporting a BIK for a hire care Q: An employee unfortunately had their company car stolen, so it was therefore unavailable for a period of time. The employee believes there should be no reportable benefit for that period, but they did have the use of a hire car while the company car was unavailable. A: The employee still had the use of a company car; even if it was just a hire vehicle. The hire vehicle should be reported for the duration of time it was in use. If the hire car has a lesser value for tax, the

employee may be taxed less, but it will still need reporting as a company car for the period the company car was out of action.

Are there rules around processing employees on payroll when they haven’t provided an NI number?

Employees who haven’t provided National Insurance (NI) numbers Q: There are employees on the payroll who haven’t provided their NI numbers. They’ve been contacted to ask for their NI numbers several times as they have been working with the company for just over a year, but they haven’t responded. What’s the next step? Is there any legal stance on employees working who haven’t provided an NI number? A: It’s not actually compulsory for an employer to record the NI numbers of their employees. However, do record them if

Should you report a BIK if an employee has left but still has use of an electric vehicle?

Reporting of benefits in kind (BIKs) once an employee has left Q: One of our employees left on 25

| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | December 2023 - January 2024 | Issue 96 10

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