BUDGET 2021 – KEY ANNOUNCEMENTS AT A GLANCE

• CJRS extend to 30 September 30 at up to 80% of wages or £2,500 a month. Firms must pay 10% of wages from July and 20% from 1 August.
• Fourth SEISS paid next month, at up to £7,500 or 80% of historic average profits over three months and the fifth grant will be paid in July.
• Personal allowance frozen at £12,570 until 2026.
• Income Tax 40p threshold frozen at £50,270 until 2026.
• Corporation Tax to rise from 19% to 25% in April 2023 for firms with profits over £250k. Taper for firms with smaller profits, down to the 19% rate for profits under £50k.
• Inheritance tax threshold frozen at £1m for married couples until March 2026.
• VAT threshold of £85,000 frozen for 2 years from April 2022.
• Annual exemption for CGT frozen until April 2026.
• Pensions lifetime allowance to be frozen at just over £1m until April 2026.
• Stamp Duty cut extended to June 30 by wiping out tax on home purchases up to £500,000., the threshold will be £250k between July 1 and 30 September.
• 95% mortgages to return, buyers can buy with a 5% deposit again as soon as April.
• New ‘super deduction’ when firms invest they can reduce their taxable income by 130% of the cost of the investment.
• Carry back losses of up to £2m for three years.

UK BUDGET 2020 SUMMARY – BUSINESSES

• Firms eligible for small business rates relief will get £3,000 cash grant
• Corporation tax staying at 19%
•  VAT on digital publications, including newspapers, books and academic journals to be scrapped from December
  Plastic packaging tax to come into force from April 2022
• 5% VAT on women’s sanitary products, known as the tampon tax, to be scrapped from January 2021
• Increase in RDEC credit (R&D for large businesses) from 12% to 13%
•  Increase structures & buildings allowance from 2% to 3%
• Increase in employment allowance from £3,000 to £4,000
• Bank of England cuts base rate to 0.25%

For more information on recent changes in Business Tax Planning,  kindly contact us on
020 3983 9505 or you can email us on info@goodhams.co.ukabc

UK BUDGET 2020 SUMMARY – INDIVIDUALS

• The tax threshold for National Insurance Contributions will rise from £8,632 to £9,500
• The personal allowance will remain at £12,500
• Entrepreneurs’ Relief will be retained, but lifetime allowance will be reduced from £10m to £1m
• Stamp duty surcharge for foreign buyers of UK properties to be levied at 2% from April 2021
• The two tapered annual allowance thresholds for pensions will both be raised by £90,000, meaning the pension allowance will only begin to be tapered down for people with an adjusted net income over £240,000

For more information on recent changes in Individual threshold & relative taxes,  kindly contact us on
020 3983 9505 or you can email us on info@goodhams.co.ukabc

WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR EMPLOYMENT ALLOWANCE?

Who is eligible for employment allowance?

From April 2020, HMRC is introducing new rules for claiming employment allowance. Read on to find out who is eligible for employment allowance and how to claim under the new processes. 

What is employment allowance?

Employment allowance is a scheme designed to help SMEs and encourage them to recruit more staff. It is currently considered a form of State Aid because it could give some businesses an advantage for trade within the European Union, however this could change following Brexit. Under the scheme, eligible companies can claim up to £3,000 off their National Insurance contributions (NICs) bills every year.

Who is eligible for employment allowance?

Currently, all businesses and charities paying Class 1 Employers’ National Insurance are eligible to receive employment allowance, however new rules are being introduced from 5th April 2020 which are expected to affect approximately 100,000 organisations.

Regardless of the changes, the following are not eligible for employment allowance:

• Company directors who are the only employees paid above the secondary threshold (£8,632 for 2019/20)
• People employing staff for domestic/personal work (e.g. cleaner, nanny), with the exception of care/support workers
• Public bodies or businesses whose staff carry out more than 50% of their work in the public sector, with the exception of charities
• Companies working under IR35 rules whose only income is via an intermediary (e.g. your personal LLP)

Changes from 5th April 2020

From 5th April 2020, employment allowance will only being available to businesses and charities whose NICs bills were below £100,000 in the previous tax year. This means that larger companies will no longer be able to claim. Employers claim manually each month via their payroll software or HMRC’s basic PAYE tools, so if you’re no longer eligible it’s important to remember to uncheck the ‘eligible for employment allowance’ box.abc

CHANGES TO IR35: OUR GUIDE TO OFF- PAYROLL WORKING RULES

From April 2020, HMRC is introducing changes to off-payroll working. Known as IR35, this is already a notoriously complicated piece of legislation. Get your head round the new rules with our guide to the changes to IR35.

What are off-payroll working and IR35?

Off-payroll work refers to services by contractors who bill a company for their time via their limited company rather than being paid through its payroll system, for example freelance consultants and contract couriers.

Most people who work in this way genuinely are self-employed contractors, however there have been cases of employers paying workers off-payroll to avoid paying employers’ National Insurance contributions (NICs) and providing employee benefits such as holiday entitlement, sick leave and a more favourable notice period. There are also tax savings for limited companies who bill for their services in this way.

To combat this practice, HMRC introduced a piece of legislation known as IR35 designed to determine whether a worker can be classed as employed or self-employed. Contractors who are deemed to be employed are required to be paid in the same way as full-time employees and must pay National Insurance and tax via the company’s PAYE system.

The rise of the so-called “gig economy” has highlighted IR35 in the media in recent years, most famously in 2016 when Uber drivers won the right to be classed as employees rather than self-employed workers after winning a key employment tribunal against the company.

Changes to IR35

Under the current rules, it is the responsibility of the worker to determine their employment status. The fee payer is not obliged to challenge the worker’s conclusion, however if HMRC were to successfully argue that the worker had got it wrong, it would be the worker who would be liable for any associated penalties in addition to the extra tax and NICs.

The Government announced in May 2018 that this would change from April 2020 where individuals were providing services to large or medium-sized organisations through an intermediary (i.e. their limited company or an employment agency) in the private sector. From this date the responsibility for determining the employment status will shift from the worker to the fee payer

Similar measures have already been in place for public sector organisations since 2017. HMRC reported that this had resulted in increased compliance in this area, hence the extension to the private sector.

Under the new rules, businesses will need to determine the employment status of a worker prior to engaging with a worker and will be required to communicate their conclusion in writing to the worker by way of a Status Determination Statement (SDS)

Where there is a supply chain – e.g. if a worker is being contracted via an employment agency – the fee payer is responsible for communicating the employment status to both the worker and to the agency who will pay them. If a worker disagrees with the fee payer’s determination, they have 45 days to respond in writing to dispute it.

Who do the changes to IR35 apply to?

The changes to IR35 apply to all companies, with the exception of small businesses. Companies are classed as small if they meet at least two of the following criteria:

• Annual turnover below £10.2 million
• Balance sheet assets less than £5.1 million
• No more than 50 employees

It should be noted that all related entities must be considered in aggregate where companies are part of a group structure.

Unincorporated businesses (sole traders and partnerships) can be classed as small if turnover is less than £10.2 million.

What constitutes employment?

There is no black and white definition of what constitutes employment, which is why many people find it such a confusing piece of legislation. Employment status is calculated based on various factors and circumstances such as:

• The worker’s responsibilities
• The level of control exerted over the work by the fee payer
• The way in which working hours are decided
• The method of payment
• The notice period
• The financial risk to the worker

HMRC has provided an online tool known as CEST (check employment status for tax) which can be used to assist in this decision. After inputting various pieces of information about the engagement, the tool provides an answer with reasons as to whether the worker should be regarded as employed or not. HMRC has confirmed that they will generally stick by the result given by CEST, providing the information entered is accurate.abc