Last-minute announcements, manual claims, and multiple changes to NIC. ICAEW’s Tax Faculty highlights some of the employment tax changes that will feature in its upcoming webinar.
Employment tax expert Kate Upcraft is sharing practical support on changes to the national minimum wage regulations, current easements to benefits-in-kind for employees and CJRS compliance in an upcoming Tax Faculty webinar.
Consultant and lecturer Kate Upcraft will be joining Tax Faculty Technical Manager Peter Bickley in a webinar on 25 May to provide an update on the latest developments in employment taxes free for Tax Faculty members and subscribers.
The hour-long session will open with information to help agents and employers understand the compliance checks HMRC is embarking on related to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
With 20-page letters of ‘concern’ being sent to employers and no de minimis exceptions, agents need to be informed to support their clients with compliance. The session will provide top risk areas and advice on how to mitigate those risks.
Whether an employee has fixed or variable pay is a key concept for calculating amounts that can be claimed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. The Tax Faculty explain that the classification of some employees is essentially the employer’s choice.
One of the areas highlighted was the issue of whether an employee receives fixed or variable pay.
Where an employee has fixed pay, the calculation of 80% of the employee’s usual wages is made using the wages paid in the last pay period ending on or before their reference date for the purposes of the CJRS.
If an employee receives variable pay, the calculation depends on when the employee became eligible for the CJRS, but generally involves averaging or a calendar look back.
ICAEW’s Tax Faculty is urging employers and agents to attend a free webinar on 7 May outlining how to calculate grant entitlement under the final phase of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, rather than risk under or overclaiming.
Claims under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) are changing from July with employers having to make increasing contributions to cover staff salaries. From 1 July 2021 the grant will be reduced to 70% of salary for hours not worked and from 1 August 2021 it will be reduced again to 60%.
Each employee must though continue to be paid 80% of their reference pay up to the £2,500 cap and for hours worked in accordance with their employment contract. So employers will be paying some salary costs for the furloughed hours, as well as the total cost of all employers NIC and the auto-enrolled pension contributions.