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Chartered AccountantsHMRC Announcements For Employers
At Harris & Co, we provide innovative accountancy services to small and medium sized businesses to ensure they are operating to their full potential. As part of our services we keep you informed with all of the latest financial news and information so that you’re always up to date with anything that could affect you or your business. Recently, the government has made a number of announcements regarding employers and employees; here are some of the new policies and changes to the system which may impact your company.
Age Exception Certificates
HMRC will no longer issue age exception certificates to confirm that a person has reached State Pension age, and is therefore no longer liable to pay Class 1 National Insurance Contributions (NIC).
Employers will need to obtain a copy of an employee’s birth certificate or passport as evidence of the person’s date of birth, both of which can be photocopied or scanned by the employer and kept on file as proof that employee Class 1 contributions are not payable.
Automatic Cancellation Of PAYE Schemes
When an employer is registered a new PAYE scheme is set up. If there has been no activity on the scheme after 120 days HMRC will automatically review it to see if it’s still needed.
HMRC will consider a PAYE scheme as not active, and therefore not needed, if all of the following apply:
• You have made no submissions using PAYE in Real Time
• You have not made any payments to HMRC
• You are not an annual payer
• There is no evidence that you want to claim CIS Deductions Suffered
• You have not received an advance from HMRC
• You have not had any periods of Construction Industry liability
• There is no evidence that you have had any employees
• There is no evidence that Class 1A NIC is due
Where none of these conditions apply your employer scheme will be cancelled and a letter sent to your business address advising you of the action taken. Once the scheme has been cancelled you will not be able to submit any PAYE submissions in real time. If your scheme should not have been cancelled the letter covers who you should contact in HMRC to request that your scheme is reopened.
Employee Shareholder Status
The new status of ‘employee shareholder’ was introduced by the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013. It allows employers to offer new or existing employees the opportunity to acquire up to £2,000 of shares in their company or parent company, in exchange for them giving up some of their employment rights such as unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy pay.
A very significant advantage of shares acquired under this new scheme is that anything made on the first £50,000 worth of shares will be completely exempt from capital gains tax (CGT). The Government hopes this will encourage the creation of new jobs by having a more flexible workforce which is more adaptable to tougher economic times and encourage staff by giving them the opportunity to share in their employer’s growth.
Innovative Accountancy Services From Harris & Co Accountants In Northampton
If you have any concerns about the new schemes in this blog, then please get in touch with one of our highly trained and experienced chartered accountants at Harris & Co. We will call on our many years of experience as small business accountants to advise you on the best way forward.
For more information about accountancy services from Harris & Co chartered accountants in Northampton please email admin@harrisandco.biz or phone 01604 660661.
