HMRC have issued their latest Employer Bulletin, summarised below, which can be found here. The Employer Bulletin is issued every 2 months and is designed to capture the latest HMRC announcements, changes and developments in the employment tax arena. HMRC also use the bulletin to remind employers of certain rules and highlight areas of concern that may be useful to share with employees.
If you don’t have time to read it all, my recommended reading is the section on trivial benefits.
Updates
- HMRC have confirmed the easement for RTI reporting over the Christmas period if employees are being paid early
- Click here for changes to advisory fuel rates from 1st December 2019
- Post-Employment Notice Pay – alternative calculation concession where an employee is paid by equal monthly instalments. The wording of HMRC’s guidance has been updated as it was too restrictive and did not reflect HMRC’s original intention; the updated guidance can be found here
- Further ‘tips’ on how to meet the trivial benefits exemption – this extremely useful article expands HMRC’s position on the use of the trivial benefits exemption, providing valuable examples which were likely borne out of the latest HMRC review of PAYE Settlement Agreement calculations
General reminders/highlights:
- Ultra-low emission vehicles – what to show on P46 Car from April 2020
- Assessing the High-Income Child Benefit Charge - informing your employees of the implications of earning in excess of £50,000 and receive Child Benefit
- Tax free childcare – reminder of its availability to your employees as the new system doesn’t seem to be as popular as the childcare voucher scheme it replaced
- What to consider as an employer upon a merger or change of ownership
- Toolkits availability – use the NIC and statutory payments & expenses toolkit (2018/19 most up to date version) and use the expenses and benefits from employment toolkit (record keeping for 2019/20 tax year)
If you have any questions about the above or any other employment tax issue, please contact Julia Ascott.
04 December 2019 
Julia Ascott, Employment Taxes Specialist
