Employment & Payroll

The cost of a staff party or other annual entertainment is generally allowed as a deduction for tax purposes. If you meet the various criteria outlined below there is no requirement to report anything to HMRC or pay tax and National Insurance. There will also be no taxable benefit charged to employees.

1. An annual Christmas party or other annual event offered to staff generally, is not taxable on those attending provided that the average cost per head of the function does not exceed £150.
2. The event must be open to all employees. If a business has multiple locations, then a party open to all staff at one of the locations is allowable. You can also have separate parties for separate departments, but employees must be able to attend one of the events.
3. There can be more than one annual event. If the total cost of these parties is under £150 per head, then there is no chargeable benefit. However, if the total cost per head goes over £150 then whichever functions best utilise the £150 are exempt and the others taxable. Note, the £150 is not an allowance and any costs over £150 per head are taxable on the full cost per head.
4. It is not necessary to keep a running total by employee but a cost per head per function. All costs including VAT must be taken into account. This includes the costs of transport to and from the event, food and drink and any accommodation provided.

It is highly recommended when planning a staff party or other annual event to try and stick to the tax rules above. This should ensure that your party does not have an extra tax cost for you or your employees. If you need help in crunching the numbers to make sure you do not exceed the allowable limits, please call.

An Employee Car Ownership Scheme (ECOS) is a set of arrangements whereby employees acquire cars from a specified, often single source and within a specified financing framework. The use of an ECOS can be seen as a halfway measure between providing a company car and leaving an employee to make all their car arrangements privately.

An ECOS gives employees similar benefits to having a company car, for example a new car on a regular basis, and/or central organisation of insurance and servicing but is structured in such a way that the normal car and fuel benefit provisions do not apply.

As the normal car and fuel benefit charges do not apply to an ECOS, HMRC is clear that each transaction has to be considered individually for both tax and NICs purposes to identify whether tax or NICs apply. One of the most important conditions that must be met for an ECOS to be in place, is that the ownership of the car in an ECOS is transferred to the employee at the outset otherwise car benefit will be due.

An ECOS may be designed and administered by the employer, by a company within the same group as the employer, or by a third party that specialises in provision of alternative packages to the company car.

An employee can obtain a benefit when provided with an employment-related cheap or interest-free loan. The benefit is the difference between the interest the employee pays, if any, and the commercial rate the employee would have to pay on a loan obtained elsewhere. These types of loans are referred to as beneficial loans.

A taxable cheap loan is an employment-related loan:

• which is outstanding for all or part of the year in which the employee is in employment, and
• no interest is paid on the loan, or the interest paid is less than is due at the official rate of interest, and
• none of the exceptions listed in sections 176-179 ITEPA apply.

The official rate of interest on beneficial loan arrangements is currently 2.5%. A change in the rate is only made in the event of significant changes in interest rates. An employee can also benefit if an employment-related loan is released or written off. He or she is then no longer obliged to repay the amount that was lent.

A benefit in kind will be applicable where a loan is provided at an interest rate of less than 2.5%. In addition, employers must also pay Class 1A National Insurance. It is not necessary for the loan to be advantageous to the recipient for a chargeable benefit to arise.

If you are an employee and use your own money to buy things you need for your job, you can sometimes claim tax relief for the associated costs. It is usually only possible to claim tax relief for the cost of items used solely for your work.

There is no tax relief available if your employer pays you back in full for an item you have bought for your work. In addition, you cannot claim tax relief if your employer has provided you with a suitable item, but you want a different or upgraded model. For example, you are provided with a mobile phone for your work, but you want to use a newer and more advanced model and pay for this yourself.

A claim for valid purchases can be made against receipts or as a ‘flat rate deduction’. The flat rate deductions are set amounts that HMRC has agreed are typically spent each year by employees in different occupations. They range from £60 to £140 depending on listed occupations. If your occupation isn’t listed, you may still be able to claim a standard annual amount of £60 in tax relief.

This means that if you are a basic rate taxpayer then you could claim back £12 (20% x £60), and if you are a higher rate taxpayer £24 (40% x £60) per year. Claims can usually be backdated for up to 4 years. If you work in one of the listed occupations, you could claim back even more.

Tax tip

You may also be able to claim tax relief for using your own vehicle and for travel expenses, professional fees and for buying equipment to use as part of your employment. The rules can be complex and we can help you crunch the numbers to see what tax relief may be available.

New legislation comes into force from 6 April 2019 which requires all employers to provide an itemised payslip to all workers, i.e. not just to employees, and to show hours on payslips where the pay varies by the amount of time worked.

The government has now published guidance to help employers with the new rules on showing the hours on payslips, which includes several useful example case studies. The guidance is non-statutory and has no legal effect on the interpretation of the legislation, but it will assist employers to better understand it.

The new rules apply to payslips covering pay periods which begin on or after 6 April 2019.

The government’s recently published “Good Work Plan” included a commitment to establish a naming and shaming scheme for those employers who fail to pay employment tribunal awards. Immediately following publication of the Good Work Plan, the government introduced the scheme and published guidance on how it operates. The names of employers, together with the amount of the employment tribunal award that they have failed to pay, will be set out in press releases published on a quarterly basis on the GOV.UK website. This will apply to unpaid tribunal awards of £200 or more that are registered with the naming scheme on or after 18 December 2018. The naming scheme is to run in parallel with the existing employment tribunal penalty scheme.

Employees that are pregnant are eligible to take up to 26 weeks of statutory maternity leave (known as ordinary maternity leave) plus an additional 26 weeks (known as additional maternity leave). This means that an employee can take up to a full year off once they give their employers the correct notice. All women employees are entitled to both classes of maternity leave from day one of their employment. It doesn’t matter how many hours they work or how long they have worked for their employer. The employer must be given the correct notice.

There are additional criteria that must be fulfilled in order for an employee to receive statutory maternity pay (SMP). SMP is a weekly payment from your employer made over a 39-week period.

SMP is payable at

• 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings (AWE) for the first 6 weeks with no upper limit;
• £145.18 (for 2018-19) or 90% of their AWE (whichever is lower) for the remaining 33 weeks.

The SMP is available to employees if:

• They are on the payroll in the ‘qualifying week’ – the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.
• Provide the correct notice period to their employer.
• Provide proof they are pregnant.
• They have been working continuously for the same employer for at least 26 weeks up to any day in the qualifying week.
• They earned at least £116 a week (gross) in the ‘relevant period’. The relevant period is usually the 8-week period preceding the 15th week before the baby is due, known as the qualifying week.

The maternity allowance is a financial benefit for pregnant women who are self-employed, who are working but do not qualify for SMP or who have recently stopped working. Your employer can also offer further additional benefits which includes higher maternity payments, however this is at their discretion and not legally required.

When you employ someone to work in your home, it is your responsibility to ensure you meet the employee’s rights and deduct the correct amount of tax from their salary. This can include employees such as a nanny, housekeeper, gardener or carer. The rules are different if the person is self-employed or paid through an agency.

If you employ anyone they must:

• have an employment contract
• be given payslips
• work no more than the maximum hours allowed per week
• be paid at least the National Minimum Wage.

The domestic employee is also entitled to employee rights such as statutory maternity pay, statutory sick pay, paid holiday, redundancy pay and a workplace pension once they meet the standard eligibility requirements. An employee must also have minimum notice periods if their employment is to end. Note, that these rules apply even if the domestic employee works on a part-time basis although some payments depend on earnings or may be adjusted pro-rata. It is also your responsibility to register as an employee, check any employees are allowed to work in the UK and to have employer’s liability insurance. 

Planning notes

There are special rules for au pairs because they are not usually considered to be workers or employees. They are not entitled to the National Minimum Wage or paid holidays. Au pairs are treated as a member of the family they live with and receive ‘pocket money’ instead of salary. However, they may be liable to Income Tax and National Insurance if the amount of ‘pocket money’ they receive is high enough.

If you are considering the employment of domestic staff and would like assistance with meeting your payroll and minimum wage obligations, please call.

HMRC is reminding employees that they may be able to claim a tax rebate if they have incurred certain expenses related to their employment. HMRC’s press release on the matter specifically identifies workers including nurses, hairdressers, construction workers and those in retail and food that have to dip into their own pockets to pay for work-related expenses like car mileage, replacing or repairing small tools, or maintaining branded uniforms. A claim can be made online now with the tax relief being paid by Christmas.

It is possible to claim for the cost of repairing or replacing small tools you need to do your job as an employee (for example, scissors or an electric drill), cleaning, repairing or replacing specialist clothing (for example, a uniform or safety boots), business mileage, travel and overnight expenses and professional fees. An employee cannot claim relief on the initial cost of buying small tools or clothing for work.

A claim for valid purchases can be made against receipts or as a ‘flat rate deduction’. The flat rate deductions are set amounts that HMRC has agreed are typically spent each year by employees in different occupations. The flat rate deductions range from a basic set amount of £60 and can go as high as £140 for certain listed occupations. This means that basic rate taxpayers can claim back a minimum flat rate of £12 (20% x £60) and higher rate taxpayers £24 (40% x £60) per year. Claims can usually be backdated for 4 years.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mel Stride MP, said:

‘We know what a difference tax relief can make to hard-working customers, especially at this time of year. HMRC is keen to make sure customers get all the relief they’re entitled to by using their online service. Tax relief isn’t available for all employment expenses so the online Check If You Can Claim tool is very helpful – then if your claim is approved, your full tax relief will be paid directly into your bank account.’