In the Spring Statement issued in March 2019, there was an update on employment taxes and changes that all employers need to understand. We have written this article for you to help you keep up to date. Click here to download the full summary of the Spring Statement 2019.
Off-Payroll working in the private sector
For medium to large businesses, i.e. greater than 50 employees the off-payroll working rules (IR35) will come into effect in April 2020. This is meant to provide companies and off-payroll workers with more certainty. Employers will need to determine the workers status and will need to make deductions for income tax and NICs and also pay any employer NICs.
Employer-provided cars
If you have a company car, then you will be aware that the vehicle will be taxed by reference to bands of carbon dioxide emissions multiplied by the original list price of the vehicle. In 2019/20 there will be a further increase of 3% to the percentage applied to each band.
Exemption for travel expenses
From April 2019 there will be a benchmark scale used for meal allowances, travel and accommodation in the UK and overseas. The employers need to ensure that the employees are undertaking qualifying travel.
Apprenticeship Levy
Employers with a pay bill of over £3 million have to pay an Apprenticeship, Levy. If you are in a group of companies paying the levy together, your group can already set up a single shared apprenticeship account and pool your funds. From April 2019 the amount that you can transfer to other employers will increase to 25%.
For other employers, there is a new ‘co-investment rate to support employers who don’t pay the levy (‘co-investment is when employers and government share the cost of training and assessing apprentices). The co-investment rate will be halved from 10% to 5%.
We work with local employers and manage their payroll for them; this not only saves them time; they also know that we keep up to date with all changes in legislation with regards to employees. If you are interested in finding out more about our payroll services, please do get in touch by calling 01623 490 120 or email