Blog & News

Regulations came into force last week to allow HMRC to accept payment of tax by credit card and where this is the case a fee of 1.25% of the amount paid will be charged by HMRC.

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The latest minutes of the MPPC (Modernising PAYE Processes for Customers) consultation group confirms that HMRC do not at this time propose to levy a penalty based on the delay between the starting or leaving date of an employee and the eventual submission of the P46/P45, but warn that they ’would monitor the situation with a view to further changes if this matter became a problem or more widespread’ - watch this space!

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An electronic ‘fit note’ is to replace paper sick notes from 2010 in a bid to get more people back to work and cut the estimated £100 billion annual cost of sick leave.

Health secretary Alan Johnson announced this week that GPs will stop issuing paper-based sick notes and start providing electronic fit notes following the first ever review of the health of the health of Britain’s working age population.

The government said it wants to switch from a paper-based system to an electronic one to make it less onerous for GPs and easier for practices to audit their clinical practice on medical certification.

So far we have been unable to find out exactly how these electronic ‘fit notes’ will actually work - and whether it will make much difference to those of us running small businesses.

If anybody out there has any more information on these ‘fit notes’ then please do get in contact with us as we would love to hear from you!

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HMRC have published the following statement this week:

‘Some employers who have submitted their 2007-08 P11D(b) Return of Class 1A National Insurance contributions online and on time have been sent a penalty notice in error. We are investigating further and will arrange to discharge any penalties that we find have been charged in error as soon as possible.

In the meantime if you have received a penalty notice and you:

• sent your P11D(b) online before 6 July 2008
• have received an acceptance notice

you may wish to contact the Employer Helpline on Tel 08457 143 143 who will arrange for the penalty to be discharged.

We are sorry for any inconvenience or embarrassment this may have caused.’

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Young people (who are new to the rituals and requirements of employment) and students in particular, who may have several jobs in one year, or several jobs at the same time are regularly being overtaxed because they are not being issued with a P46 whenever they start a job.  Instead they are taxed at basic rate.

There needs to be some basic education given to these kids in the 6th form.  When they are being taught how to construct a CV for example, wouldn’t it be a good idea to instruct them also in the workings of our PAYE system?

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The statutory allowance for full time employees is 24 days per year (part time employees receive a pro rata number of days depending on hours worked).  Holiday days start accruing from the first day of employment and continue to the last day of employment, even if you are dismissed without notice for misconduct.  Much of our post contains queries about holiday entitlement, so if anybody out there could do with some help in this area just let us know.

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Switch to online filing and receive £250 cash back from the Inland Revenue at the end of this tax year*

Did you know that by 2010 all UK companies will be obliged to file their Inland Revenue returns online? In fact the deadline is May 2005 for large companies (250 or more employees) and May 2006 for medium companies (50 - 249 employees). However, as an incentive for small companies with fewer than 50 employees*, the Inland Revenue is offering up to £825 tax-free for switching to online filing early.

• file online for 2004-05 and get £250
• file online for 2005-06 and get £250
• file online for 2006-07 and get £150
• file online for 2007-08 and get £100
• file online for 2008-09 and get £ 75

Recently released Inland Revenue figures show that out of a total 1,648,382 small businesses only 5.1% managed to file their 03/04 year-end returns online. That leaves a whopping 94.9% of you who have yet to benefit from this scheme…. We believe that such a low take up of this incentive proves that businesses are either unaware of the scheme or unsure of how to proceed.

Problem solved! Fergus Neilson can fully explain the scheme, register your company and file online on your behalf – at no extra cost – and you will receive the reward. Please call us immediately on 01865 522345 for further information about online filing and any other matters relating to PAYE.

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Workers must exercise choice about working longer hours

At present, UK workers are able to “opt out” of the Working Hours Regulation 48 hour maximum working week and the DTI wants this to continue.

However, it has come to light that some employers are pressurising their employees to sign an opt out agreement and this is illegal. Workers must be allowed to choose whether or not to work more than 48 hours per week. An individual worker may cancel the opt-out agreement at any time although the employer and worker can agree how much notice is needed to cancel (which can be up to three months). But in the absence of an agreed notice period, the worker only needs to give a minimum of seven days’ notice of cancellation. Workers cannot be fairly dismissed or subjected to detriment for refusing to sign an opt-out. As an employer you must keep a record of who has agreed to work longer hours.

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Pension Provision

As part of a pilot scheme, the government is sending out pension packs to all the employees of one hundred selected companies. The aim is to find out if employees are receiving the relevant pension advice and information from their employers and, more importantly, if they are actually making changes to their financial arrangements as a result.

If you employ 5 or more employees you may have to make a stakeholder pension scheme available to your staff (although some employers will be exempt).

At payrollplus we believe that employers who offer a pension scheme to their employees attract better employees and keep them longer. We make no extra charges to cover pension deductions as part of our comprehensive payroll service.

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IT security advisers have recently published a report which reveals that 7 out of 10 second hand hard drives and laptop computers bought randomly at auction were found to contain highly sensitive retrievable data including employee contact details, payroll records, and details of pension schemes. The report concludes that failure to secure personal data is a serious breach of the Data Protection Act which could also lead to a significant loss of consumer and employee confidence.

Outsourcing your payroll with payrollplus will always guarantee complete confidentiality of employment records as we operate ultra-secure procedures to ensure total data protection. Please contact Linda Ferguson to obtain a copy of our Data Privacy policy and Terms and Conditions of Trading.

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