Copyright © 2024 Thesaurus Software Ltd T/A Bright Software Group.
3 Shortlands, Hammersmith, London, W6 8DA
[email protected] 0345 9390019Jul 2017
19
HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts for the tax year 2016-17 revealed the best results for customer service performance. The report sets out HMRC’s latest performance results which includes the collection of £28.9 billion from compliance activities, which exceeded their government target. With total tax revenues of £574.9 billion, this report shows record tax revenues for the seventh year in a row. The Annual Report is available here.
HMRC online services and new improvements have made it easier for customers to obtain information, advice and support. The improvements have also made it easier to process returns which has lead to an increased number of HMRC customers going digital. For example, over 9.4 million HMRC customers accessed their Personal Tax account online and HMRC conducted over 1.6 million web chats.
Customers can still contact HMRC by telephone or post seven days a week. The average call waiting time for customers to get through to HMRC during 2016-17 was approximately 4 minutes. Postal levels are the lowest in recent years.
Regarding renewing tax credits, nearly 2.5 million did so ahead of the deadline of 31st July 2016 and around one million people renewed their tax credits online, an increase of 30% on the previous year.
HMRC’s Charter Annual Report sets out the relationship between HMRC and their customers, what customers can expect from HMRC, and the behaviours HMRC expect from their customers. This helps HMRC strive for their commitment to provide excellent customer service. The Charter Annual Report can be viewed here.
Jul 2017
7
Employers are being made aware of an apparent scam of exemption certificates for automatic enrolment purposes being offered by at least one company. An investigation is being undertaken by The Pension Regulator into this company offering what is described as 'Certificates of Auto Enrolment Exemption' to employers.
Employers were advised by the company when purchasing this fake certificate, that holding it meant that the employer did not have automatic enrolment duties. The cost being charged to employers for this worthless 'Certificate of Auto Enrolment Exemption' is £58. TPR does not have any such documents or accept any such documents as evidence of automatic enrolment exemption.
Any employer who is offered the chance to buy a certificate of exemption or any similar sounding document exempting them from automatic enrolment duties is being urged to decline the offer and contact TPR immediately.
TPR’s Director of Automatic Enrolment, Darren Ryder said:
"Most independent advisers offer legitimate services that assist employers with their workplace pension duties. Nevertheless, employers need to take care when they are seeking help or advice about what they need to do about automatic enrolment. We will work to root out the small number of organisations that are looking to prey on hard-working employers, abusing their trust and tricking them out of their money."
Jun 2017
28
Previously, subcontractors that are limited companies, that had deductions taken from Construction Industry Scheme payments and need to reclaim these deductions from HMRC, had to write to HMRC or call the HMRC helpline in order to make their claim. Now there is an electronic form available on your HMRC online account that you have to use to submit your claim.
After all year end submissions have been sent to HMRC for the Employer – the final Full Payment Submission and the final Employer Payment Summary – you can complete the online form for your claim. No supporting documentation is required to support your claim.
However please note; if the repayment is to be sent to your agent or a nominee you will not be able to use the online claim form, you will need to send the claim and a signed form R38 to the following address:
National Insurance Contributions and Employer Office
HM Revenue & Customs
BX9 1BX
If you are using BrightPay you can claim the CIS deductions suffered by entering the amount in the HMRC Payments section and create and send an Employer Payment Summary to HMRC with this amount reclaimable from HMRC. HMRC will update your PAYE online account accordingly.
Please see a link to our online tutorial for CIS in BrightPay - https://www.brightpay.co.uk/tutorials/cis-entering-contractor-and-subcontractor-details/
Jun 2017
22
HMRC are currently experiencing issues with a delay in submission responses from RTI submissions. If you are unsure if your submission has been successfully sent, you should receive your confirmation email from HMRC to acknowledge receipt of the RTI submission.
The following message has been added to the PAYE service availability and issues page:
PAYE Real Time Information slow submission responses
HMRC are aware of a technical issue which is causing a delay in submission responses being issued for Real Time Information (RTI) submissions. We are currently investigating the underlying problem and are working hard to resolve this as soon as possible.
If you have received your confirmation email from HMRC to acknowledge receipt of the RTI submission and it still shows as outstanding in BrightPay you can mark the submission as sent and accepted by HMRC.
To mark an FPS as sent in BrightPay:
1) Click the RTI tab heading and select the FPS from the left hand listing.
2) Click the 'Send' button on the menu toolbar and select 'Mark as Sent and Accepted by HMRC'.
This will flag the FPS as sent on BrightPay but the FPS file will not be submitted again to HMRC.
Jun 2017
7
For company cars, HMRC has issued details regarding the latest Advisory Fuel Rates. From the date of the change, employers may use the old rates or new rates for one month. Employers are under no obligation to make supplementary payments to reflect the new rates but can do so if they wish. Hybrid cars are treated as either petrol or diesel cars for this purpose for the fuel rates.
The only change is to Petrol engine over 2000. The rates are as below:
| Engine size | Petrol - amount per mile | LPG - amount per mile |
| 1400cc or less | 11 pence | 7 pence |
| 1401cc to 2000cc | 14 pence | 9 pence |
| Over 2000cc | 21 pence | 14 pence |
| Engine size | Diesel - amount per mile |
| 1600cc or less | 9 pence |
| 1601cc to 2000cc | 11 pence |
| Over 2000cc | 13 pence |
May 2017
15
Employer Johnson Shoes Company’s automatic enrolment staging date was 1st May 2014 and they had to file their declaration of compliance within the 5 months after the staging date by 30th September 2014, but they failed to do so by the deadline.
Johnsons were contacted by The Pensions Regulator several times advising them of their automatic enrolment duties and how to fulfil these duties. But Johnsons’ lack of action regarding their duties made The Pensions Regulator to use their enforcement methods.
TPR issued a Fixed Penalty Notice of £400 to Johnsons but Johnsons refused to pay this fine and asked TPR to review the penalty as they stated the pressures of work were the reason they did not fulfil their duties. As TPR had sent Johnsons several reminders in the year leading up to their staging date, giving Johnsons plenty of time to prepare, this excuse was not deemed to be a reasonable excuse by the TPR so the fine remained.
An Escalating Penalty Notice was issued which in Johnsons case was £2,500 per day due to the number of employees they have. This escalated to £40,000 total fine. As Johnsons also refused to pay this EPN fine The Pensions Regulator lodged a money claim with the County Court in order to recover the amount owed. In the end Johnsons were ordered to pay the £40,000 plus £2,000 in legal fees that The Pensions Regulator had to pay at the beginning of their claim, so total cost of £42,000 for Johnsons.
Johnsons are now fully compliant for automatic enrolment and their employees that are in the automatic enrolment pension scheme are in the same position as they would have been if Johnsons had been compliant at their staging date.
In a regulatory intervention report produced by The Pension Regulator it states this case shows that early engagement with the employer where non-compliance is identified is necessary. This cost to Johnsons could have been prevented if Johnsons had of being prepared for automatic enrolment and not ignored the communication from The Pensions Regulator.
Apr 2017
13
At the 31st March over 500,000 employers have completed their automatic enrolment duties according to the most recent Declaration of Compliance reports from The Pensions Regulator. This report shows that over 7.6 million employees are now saving in a pension and for their retirement. In the first quarter of 2017 136,000 small and micro employers completed their declaration of compliance.
A Declaration of Compliance needs to be completed and submitted to the Pensions Regulator within five months of the staging date. A Declaration of Compliance is the employer informing The Pensions Regulator that they have met their automatic enrolment duties.
If you do not submit your declaration of compliance in time you may be fined. It is a legal duty that the declaration of compliance is fully completed with the correct information and submitted on time.
Should you be experiencing any issues regarding your automatic enrolment process or collecting the relevant information for your Declaration of Compliance contact The Pensions Regulator immediately. The Pensions Regulator's website has a help section: http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/automatic-enrolment-registration-questions.aspx
Apr 2017
4
Currently with HMRC if there is an underpayment of tax that is owed at the end of the tax year the process is that it can be coded out, by means of adjusting the tax code for the employee in the next tax year, or the tax is to be paid by the employee in full. From May 2017 onwards HMRC will make automatic adjustment to Pay As You Earn tax codes using real time information as they occur.
HMRC will be watching the data being submitted from Full Payment Submissions by employers and pension companies from April 2017 onwards. HMRC will then be assessing individuals and projecting whether an employee will be due to have an underpayment of tax by the end of the tax year. Where this occurs HMRC will amend the employee’s tax code in order for the collection of the tax be in the current tax year and not be left owed at the end of the tax year. This proactive approach from HMRC ensures that the majority of tax owed will be collected in the same tax year.
Mar 2017
9
The main points to be noted by employers from Spring Budget 2017 announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond are:
• The personal tax allowance will increase by £500 from £11,000 to £11,500 from 6th April 2017 as previously announced, this is in line with the government's goal to have the personal tax allowance at £12,500 by 2020.
• The Dividend Allowance will decrease by £3,000 from £5,000 to £2,000 from 6th April 2018. This means that there is no tax payable on dividend payments up to £2,000 from April 2018 onwards. Any dividends above this allowance will be taxed at 7.5% for basic-rate taxpayers, 32.5% for higher-rate taxpayers and 38.1% for additional-rate taxpayers.
• There were no changes regarding company car and van charges or fuel charges.
• In the Finance Bill 2017, legislation will be introduced by the government about dates where an employee can make a payment in return for a Benefit in Kind they receive, this can reduce the taxable value of the Benefit in Kind. The 6th of July after the end of that tax year has been decided by the government, so if employees make a payment for the BIK before that date, they can reduce the taxable value of the BIK or remove if payment in full is made. This will be for the 2017-18 tax year and following tax years.
• Termination payments over £30,000 which are subject to income tax currently from April 2018 will be subject to Employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) The first £30,000 of a termination payment will remain exempt from Income Tax and NICs. In the Finance Bill 2017, the tax treatment of termination payments will be clarified and this will include all contractual and non-contractual payments in lieu of notice taxable as earnings and requiring employers to tax the equivalent of an employee’s basic pay if notice is not worked. The changes, including to Foreign Service Relief, will take effect from 6 April 2018.
• The Money Purchase Annual Allowance to £4,000 will be reduced from April 2017, down from £10,000. This restricts the amount of tax relieved contributions an individual can make in a year into a money purchase pension, if they have flexibly accessed their pension savings.
• The Government is carrying out the first statutory review of State Pension Age and the details will be published in their review by 7th May 2017.
• HMRC's compliance team are monitoring employers that are claiming the Employment Allowance, as it has been reported that some employers are using avoidance schemes to avoid paying National Insurance amounts due.
Feb 2017
14
Electronic Notification - HMRC will be sending out email notifications from 18th February up until the 5th March to notify employers that P9 coding notices for the tax year 2017-18 are available to view online. HMRC have advised employers to ensure when logging into their online account to ensure they have the correct tax year selected, 2017-18. And also if the notices are not available that day, to leave it 24 hours and log in the next day and the P9s should be available to be viewed.
HMRC have commenced to send out the P9 paper coding notices and employers should expect to receive them up until the 17th March, although some employers may receive this notifications up until 20th March. If for some reason the employer does not receive the paper coding notice before the 6th April 2017, the employer may contact HMRC Employer Helpline on 0300 200 3200 and request a duplicate. Just to note the duplicate will only be made for the full employer PAYE scheme and no individual tax codes will be sent for individual employees. HMRC have advised that the duplicate requests may take up to 14 working days.
Copyright © 2024 Thesaurus Software Ltd T/A Bright Software Group.
3 Shortlands, Hammersmith, London, W6 8DA
[email protected] 0345 9390019