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Forthcoming pension changes for employers – Work Place Pensions
If you are an employer with staff:
- aged between 16 and 74
- working in the UK
- from whom you deduct income tax and National Insurance contributions
your duties regarding pension provision will change over the next few years.
The new system is known as ‘auto enrolment’. The specific duties you will face will depend on the ages and earnings of your staff, and will commence on your staging date.
To understand when these changes will affect your business, our publications page includes a table of the various staging dates announced by The Pensions Regulator. To access this document please click here.
Over the coming weeks we will publish a useful guide summarising the key duties employers will face and which employees must be ‘auto-enrolled’ into a pension scheme.
For more information on pensions and employment, please contact us.
Using form P50 to claim tax back
Form P50 is used when you have stopped working and you wish to claim back overpaid tax prior to the end of the tax year. It can only be used in certain circumstances where you have stopped working and either;
- You have been unemployed for four weeks or more, or
- You are not claiming one of the taxable benefits listed below, or
- You do not expect to go back to work in the next four weeks, or
- You have retired permanently and are not receiving a pension from your old employer, or
- You have returned to full-time study
The taxable benefits which exclude you from a tax claim using form P50 are:
- Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Taxable Incapacity Benefit (IB), Note IB is usually taxable if paid for more than 28 weeks.
- Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Carer’s Allowance.
- Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
In completing the form you will need to tick one of the options in the declaration as follows to confirm that either:
-
You have been unemployed for four weeks or more and have not claimed any of the taxable benefits listed on page one;
-
You have retired from work and do not get a pension from an old employer;
-
You have returned to full-time study; or
-
You do not expect to go back to work (including part-time or casual employment) before the start of the new tax year on 6 April.
You will need to send parts 2 and 3 of your P45, details of employee leaving work form, given to you by your previous employer, to HMRC with your P50 claim form. HMRC will calculate any refund due based upon your declaration and send it to you together with a replacement P45 reflecting the revised tax paid for the year.
Should you make a declaration that you do not expect to go back to work but then do, you may then pay tax on the whole of your income as your personal allowances may have already been fully used.
The P50 claim can be downloaded from HMRC website but please contact us for further help and advice if it is needed.
Real Time Information – changes to PAYE reporting
Changes to the current system
Currently employers in the UK are required to report to HMRC at the end of each payroll year, summarising the payments to their employees and the deductions made for Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) using a P35 employers year end return and a P14 for each employee.
From April 2013, almost all employers will be required to make regular reports to HMRC showing the employee payments, deductions (E.g. Income Tax, NICs and Student loans), and details of any starters or leavers in each payroll period. The reports, known as a full payment submission (FPS), will need to be submitted every time a payment is made under PAYE and should include details of all employees, including those earning below the NIC lower earnings limit (£107 per week for 2012/13).
A summary of the key RTI facts is available in the publications section of our website. Please contact us if you are unsure about how the changes will affect your business.
Audit threshold changes
A new Statutory Instrument has been issued that amends the Companies Act 2006 in respect of accounts and audit exemptions for accounting periods ending on or after 1 October 2012. The new rules apply to companies and limited liability partnerships.
Audit thresholds for small companies have been aligned with accounting thresholds for small companies. Small companies will therefore be entitled to an exemption from mandatory audit if they meet two out of the three mandatory criteria:
- No more than 50 employees;
- No more than gross assets of £3.26 million;
- Less than £6.5 million in turnover.
There are also new exemptions from mandatory audit for certain subsidiary companies and dormant subsidiaries from preparing and filing accounts.
Changes also make it easier for companies who currently use IFRS(International Financial Reporting Standards) voluntarily to switch from IFRS to UK GAAP when preparing their accounts.
Is your year end 30 September 2012? Are you required to have an audit under the old rules but not the new rules? If so and you would be interested in not having an audit for the year to 30 September 2012, contact us.
For further details please contact us.
Dates and deadlines: October 2012
1 October: Corporation tax payment for company not within the instalment regulations: year ending 31 December 2011
1 October: National Minimum Wage increase comes into effect
2 October: HMRC Tax return initiative deadline
5 October: Notify HMRC of chargeability to Income Tax / Capital Gains Tax from this date if not within Self Assessment for 2011/12
5 October: End of month 6 for PAYE
7 October: Online VAT return due to be filed and electronic payment of VAT due to be cleared into HMRC bank: quarter ended 31 August 2012
12 October: Direct debit VAT payment will be taken: quarter ended 31 August 2012
14 October: CT61 quarterly return and payment deadline: quarter to 30 September 2012
19 October: CIS monthly return deadline: month ended 5 October 2012
19 October: Quarterly nil payment notification: quarter to 5 October 2012
19 October: Cheque payments due for PAYE/NI, student loan, CIS and PAYE Settlement Agreements: month ended 5 October 2012
22 October: Electronic PAYE/NI etc payments (inc PAYE Settlement Agreements) to be cleared into HMRC bank: month ended 5 October 2012
31 October: Deadline for submission of paper self assessment returns for 2011/12
31 October: Company tax return CT600 due to HMRC: years ending 31 October 2011
31 October: Company accounts (Private Limited Co) due to be filed: years ending 31 January 2012
31 October: Company accounts (Public Companies) due to be filed: years ending 30 April 2012
1 November: Corporation tax payment for company not within the instalment regulations: years ending 31 January 2012
2 November: Submission of form P46 (car) for changes in quarter to 5 October 2012
