Share Schemes

HMRC updates to booklet CWG(2) – transparency or opacity?

Posted by David on June 09, 2015
Expenses and benefits, News articles, Payroll / Comments Off on HMRC updates to booklet CWG(2) – transparency or opacity?

HMRC has recently published its latest annual update to its booklet CWG(2), i.e. the Employers Further Guide to PAYE/NICs, for the year 2015/16.

The CWG(2) does tend to retain the same basic paragraph and section numbering year on year, and it occurs to ET4B how easy it would be for HMRC to flag up or highlight any updated sections (within this and other updated guidance). Indeed it is difficult to fathom why the department does not opt to highlight changes to this (92 page guidance), clearly and directly?

Some of the main changes to the booklet would appear to be as follows (the page and paragraph numbers of the guide are shown in brackets for reference):

  • Details of the new 0% rate applying to certain employer Class 1 NICs, for employees under the age of 21, are now included (page 6, para 4).
  • Some of the examples scenarios potentially applying, when the regular date for employee pay is on a non-banking day, are now elaborated upon (page 9, para 4).
  • Guidance on Lump Sum payments from pension schemes (page 19, para 20) now refers to the more general use of the “Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sums” (UFPLS) terminology, following changes in the rules permitting access to defined contribution pension funds.
  • Guidance on workers supplied by agencies has been developed, in an attempt to reflect some of the new and additional PAYE/NIC obligations for  onshore (page 51, pre-para 110) and offshore (page 60, para 125) agency workers.
  • For PAYE due on employment related securities and similar non-cash payments, the guide now reflects the recent legislative change that PAYE not recovered within 90 days of the end of the tax year now constitutes a benefit in kind (page 82, para 161). The previous 2014 version reflected the old rules where PAYE had to be made good within 90 days of the receipt of the non-cash payment, to avoid the benefit charge.

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Share schemes online returns update

Posted by David on November 01, 2014
HMRC, News articles / Comments Off on Share schemes online returns update

HMRC has now introduced an employee share schemes annual returns checking service.

From the 2014-15 tax year onwards all annual returns for employment related securities must be submitted online. HMRC has published ‘templates’ i.e. which contain field settings for all the relevant return data (which would be sent to HMRC using Excel or similar spreadsheet format). The template requirement for ‘Form 42’ returns (i.e. the returns for non tax-advantaged schemes) is also available here, as well as similar (but separate) templates for the various tax-advantaged schemes.

The new checking service in effect provides a validation check so that employers or agents can feel more confident that their proposed spreadsheet return data is accurate and won’t be rejected. Given HMRC’s tendency to apply fairly ‘prescriptive’ validation settings for online data requirements, this service should be worth taking advantage of.

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Employment Related Securities: changes to HMRC administrationn

Posted by David on January 24, 2014
HMRC, News articles / Comments Off on Employment Related Securities: changes to HMRC administrationn

HMRC has changed the way that new and existing employee share schemes are to be administered from 6 April 2014. The main changes are as follows:

1          HMRC will no longer approve any new schemes. Employers who wish to introduce new tax advantaged CSOP, SAYE or SIP arrangements will have to ‘self-certify’ that the scheme meets the terms for legislative reliefs.

2          There will all be a requirement for employers to register all new or existing employee share arrangements (tax-advantaged or otherwise) online. The registration must be undertaken via HMRC’s ‘PAYE online for employers’ service.

3          From April 2015 (i.e. for 2014/15 returns) employers must submit all annual returns online, i.e. this includes the normal annual returns for tax-advantaged schemes as well as the Form 42 relating to other types of share etc scheme awards and exercises.

Meantime HMRC has supplied updated versions of the manual returns required for 2013/14; these may be downloaded from http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/shareschemes/ann-app-schemes.htm.,

If you require any additional information on this topic please contact ET4B.

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