How do you create a Tronc?

Tip jar

Typically, an employee is appointed to administer the tronc and is usually referred to as the troncmaster. HMRC does not prescribe who the troncmaster should be.

Frank owns a pub and restaurant. Tips paid by cheque, debit and credit card are all passed to Sharon, the troncmaster, who has been appointed by Frank. Sharon operates PAYE on the tips that she distributes. A staff committee decides on the allocation and Frank has nothing to do with this.

Even though Frank has appointed Sharon as troncmaster he has played no part, directly or indirectly, in the allocation of the tips because he is not involved in determining who should receive tips and how much each employee should receive. In these circumstances, no NICs will be due on the tips received by the tronc members. Example from NIM02942

Y0u may also find my blog helpful

How Troncmasters can keep your tips NI and VAT Free

The Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) Regulations 2003 require an employer to

  • Notify HMRC of the existence of a tronc created on or after 6 April 2004

And

  • Give the troncmaster’s name (if known)

When you are notified of a tronc you should

  • Confirm that there is an organised arrangement for sharing tips and determine
    • How the tronc receives monies (for example employees paying in cash tips or an employer paying in credit card tips)
    • Who holds the tronc monies and how (for example, is there a tronc bank account and if so who operates it?)
    • On what basis are distributions made from the tronc and who decides that basis
    • Which employees are tronc members
    • Whether the person said to be the troncmaster accepts and understands the role (including the obligation to operate PAYE)

If you are satisfied that there is a tronc for PAYE purposes (bear in mind that a business could have more than one tronc, for example a hotel could have separate troncs for restaurant staff and housekeeping staff and each should be dealt with separately)

  • Arrange for a PAYE scheme to be set up in the name of the troncmaster. Further information can be found in PAYE20160

steve@bicknells.net

How far would you go to retain staff?

Biological Clock

Apple and Facebook are now offering to pay for female employees to freeze their eggs!

The initiative is part of the so-called “perks arms race” as Silicon Valley firms battle to recruit top talent and it is hoped the perk will attract more women into a traditionally male-dominated sector. (Sky News)

Fertility specialist Philip Chenette is quoted as saying “providing egg-freezing coverage for employees can be viewed as a type of payback for women’s commitment in a mael-dominated industry where technology firms are often competing to attract female talent” (NBC News)

https://www.pacificfertilitycenter.com/fertility-preservation/

The cost for egg freezing in the US is about $10,000 (£6,200) for every round, as well as $500 or more for storage each year.

Apple also offer assistance with adoption.

Will UK companies soon be offering this perk?

steve@bicknells.net

The mystery of the Specified Charge

Retro detective man smoking pipe walking in city street at night. Wearing a hat and raincoat. Mysterious atmosphere.

Many employers who submit mainly nil returns (ie small owner managed businesses) for RTI are likely to get a letter from HMRC with Specified Charges on them, this is because under RTI if you don’t pay any employees in a pay period you need to submit a return to HMRC, if you forget or mis a period, which with HMRC RTI Basic PAYE Tools is easily done, HMRC will create a charge.

HMRC define a Specified Charge as

These are amounts we have estimated to be due when we have not received the necessary RTI PAYE submissions. We base these on you previous filing and payment history. We do this under Regulation 75A Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) Regulations 2003.

But as its an estimate is unlikely to be correct and on top of that HMRC will probably charge interest based on their Specified Charge.

If you get a Specified Charge check your RTI Submissions to makesure that you haven’t missed any, if you have missed one, post it now

steve@bicknells.net

 

RTI Declarations – Service Company

And now round two of justify it

It’s time to run your first RTI PAYE year end and you have your own limited company, how do you answer this question?

Service Company ‘Yes’ if you are a service company – ‘service company’ includes a limited company, a limited liability partnership or a partnership (but not a sole trader) – and have operated the Intermediaries legislation (Chapter 8, Part 2, Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA), sometimes known as IR35). Otherwise indicate ‘No’.

The question is now a bit more specific, which is great, because you will only answer ‘Yes’ if you have operated IR35.

steve@bicknells.net

Are you ready for your first RTI year end?

Close up of payslip

Basically you will need to:

  • Prepare P60’s (but no P14 and P35) by 31st May
  • Submit your final FPS or EPS
  • Update your Payroll Software for the New Tax Year

You can order your P60’s for free from HMRC http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payerti/forms-updates/forms-publications/onlineorder.htm

Here is a great video from HMRC

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) plans to make its Basic PAYE Tools product for the 2014-15 tax year available on 3 April 2014.

The 2014-15 version of Basic PAYE Tools will be provided as an update to the existing version rather than a separate download, so existing users do not need to go to the HMRC website to get the update.

steve@bicknells.net

Can I process my payroll once a year?

Pay

Yes, HMRC are now able to process requests for annual payrolls.

An annual scheme must meet all of the following requirements:

  • all the employees are paid annually
  • all the employees are paid at the same time/same date
  • the employer is only required to pay HMRC annually

Once a business is registered as an annual scheme, an Employer Payment Summary (EPS) is not required for the 11 months of the tax year where no payments are made to the employees.

We all have busy schedules………

Annual schemes are likely to be adopted mainly by very small businesses and single person companies as you can pay all your salary in one go and save yourself 11 months of RTI reporting.

steve@bicknells.net

Top 5 useful things I have learnt about RTI

Payroll

Real Time Information (RTI) has now been with us for a few months and once you get used to Full Payment Submissions (FPS) and Employer Payment Summaries (EPS) its not too bad.

HMRC recently reported:

With over 1.4 million PAYE schemes successfully reporting in real time, the launch of PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) continues to go well. The vast majority of employers (83% of small & medium size employers and 77% of more than 1 million micro employers) have started reporting in real time, but we are aware that there are still some employers who have not started yet.

Given time you might even get to Love doing your RTI Payroll as much as Suzie Humphreys…

Here are some things that I have learnt that you might find helpful:

Split FPS Submissions

You can only submit each employee once for each payment period but you can make more than one Full Payment Submission, this is useful if you have Monthly and Weekly payrolls, or a late starter you have process after the FPS has been submitted, or if you split your payroll by seniority and different staff process sections.

Hashtag and Paying by BACS

At the moment if you pay employees by Direct BACS using systems such as Nat West Payaway the Direct BACS submission needs to include a Hashtag to enable HMRC to match the payment with the FPS, however, if you don’t use Direct BACS and you just pay by Online Banking, Bankline, BACS or CHAPS or any other method you don’t need the Hashtag. I am sure that will change!

Starters and Leavers

When you enter a new employee HMRC are notified on the first FPS that they appear on and you must no longer use a P46 to get starter information you need to us the new HMRC Starter Checklist

P45’s are just for the Employee to refer to and are useful to show to their new employer, don’t send them to HMRC. HMRC are notified of leavers on the FPS.

CIS

If you have deductions under the Construction Industry Scheme you need to enter them on the EPS to reduce the amount of tax payable.

NI Holiday

NI Holidays for new companies end in September 2013 but until then need to be entered on the EPS. Form E89 is used to keep track of how much has been claimed.

Here are some more useful tips and facts on RTI:

Relaxation of Rules for Small Companies

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) recognise that some small employers who pay employees weekly, or more frequently, but only process their payroll monthly may need longer to adapt to reporting PAYE information in real time. HMRC have therefore agreed a relaxation of reporting arrangements for small businesses.

HMRC is planning to extend the temporary relaxation for employers with fewer than 50 employees to April 2014. This relaxation means that these businesses are still required to report through the new system, but are able to do so once a month (but no later than the end of the tax month (5th)), rather than each time they pay their employees. This gives small businesses that pay weekly (or more frequently), but who only run their payroll at the end of the month, some extra time to adjust to the new requirements.

Annual Schemes

Many micro businesses such as one person companies are switching to annual payrolls.

An annual scheme must meet all of the following requirements:

  • all the employees are paid annually
  • all the employees are paid at the same time/same date
  • the employer is only required to pay HMRC annually

Once a business is registered as an annual scheme, an Employer Payment Summary (EPS) is not required for the 11 months of the tax year where no payments are made to the employees.

But currently HMRC are unable to process requests to become Annual.

HMRC are working to rectify this position and will publish a further ‘What’s New’ message to announce when this is ready.

Late Filing Penalties

If you do not report the final payment made to an employee, for the tax year 2013-2014, by 19 May in the following tax year you will be charged a late filing penalty.

Penalties are calculated on the basis of £100 per 50 employees and accrue for each month (or part month) that a return remains outstanding after 19 May.

If you fail to report this information by 19 May, or tell HMRC no return was due by sending an EPS, they will write to you (and your authorised agent if you have one) advising that a penalty may already have been incurred and that you must report this information as soon as possible to prevent the penalty building up any further.

steve@bicknells.net

How small companies can comply with RTI for Free

Close up of payslipFrom 6 April 2013 employers will have to start reporting PAYE information to HMRC in real time. This is referred to as Real Time Information – or RTI.

Lin Homer, the Chief Executive of HMRC, said:

“RTI delivers on all fronts. Business costs will be cut by £300 million a year, employees will be taxed more accurately and fraud and error in the tax credit system will be reduced by hundreds of millions of pounds every year.”

If you have 9 employees or less you will be able to use Basic PAYE Tools to comply with RTI for larger business you will need to purchase a payroll system or use a bureau.

Basic PAYE Tools will:

  • record your employees’ details
  • handle mid-year tax code changes
  • work out and record your employee’s pay, tax, NICs and any Student Loan deductions every payday
  • generate the payroll data that you need to send to HMRC in real time, including starter and leaver information
  • produce an Employer payment record that works out how much you need to pay HMRC
  • contain integrated calculators to help you to work out statutory payments such as Statutory Sick Pay and Statutory Maternity Pay
  • transfer employee details from one year to the next so you don’t have to re-enter their details

Basic PAYE Tools does not provide a payslip so here is a template you can use.

A key feature of RTI is to link RTI data and payment information together where employees are paid by direct Bacs. This will reduce errors and improve accuracy, particularly when Universal Credits is introduced. Employers need to use employee bank details to generate the hash cross reference. HMRC appreciate that this may result in a change to business processes for some employers.

The payroll and payment will be linked with a hash created by your payroll solution which contains:

A four character random string which is inserted in field 7 of the Bacs payment record• The sort code of the originator’s bank (6 digits);• The sort code of the recipient’s bank (6 digits)• The amount of payment in pence (-Tax and NI) (11 digits).

This will be sent alongside the tax information to HMRC.

Currently the use of the Hash Cross Reference only applies if you use Direct Bacs

The High Street Banks have not enabled Hash Tags for online banking yet, although this may well change at a later date.

See further discussion on Hash Tags on www.accountingweb.co.uk

steve@bicknells.net

RTI and the Universal Credit

Under the new rules companies submitting payroll payments to BACS will need to include additional information along with the BACS transaction including the payee’s tax code, pay to date and tax to date amongst other items of information. These new rules have been named RTI or Real Time Information by HMRC.

Migration started in April 2012 with an aim to have all companies migrated by the end of 2013.

RTI will:

  • make the PAYE process simpler and less burdensome for employers and HMRC; for example by removing the need for the end of year return (P35 and P14) and simplifying the employee starting and leaving processes
  • make PAYE more accurate for individuals, over time reducing the number of bills and repayments sent after the end of the tax year
  • enable HMRC to pursue late payments more effectively
  • support the payment of Universal Credits
  • reduce Tax Credits error and fraud

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rti/employerfaqs.htm

To enable RTI payroll providers and BACS providers are currently rolling out new software and applications.

The Universal Tax Credit will be launched in 2013 and will replace:

  • income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • income-based Employment and Support Allowance
  • Income Support
  • Child Tax Credits
  • Working Tax Credits
  • Housing Benefit.

What’s different about Universal Credit?

The main differences between Universal Credit and the current welfare system are:

  • Universal Credit will be available to people who are in work and on a low income, as well as to those who are out of work
  • most people will apply online and manage their claim through an online account
  • Universal Credit will be responsive, as people on low incomes move in and out of work, they’ll get ongoing support – giving people more incentive to work for any period of time that is available
  • most claimants on low incomes will still be paid Universal Credit when they first start a new job or increase their part-time hours
  • claimants will receive just one monthly payment, paid into a bank account in the same way as a monthly salary
  • support with housing costs will go direct to the claimant as part of their monthly payment.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/welfare-reform/universal-credit/

steve@bicknells.net