All news – Page 86
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Employee Benefits/Towers Watson Flexible Benefits Research 2012
Download a PDF of the Employee Benefits/Towers Watson Flexible Benefits Research 2012 Sponsor’s commentKey findingsAttitudesStructureBenefits on offerTax-efficient benefitsImpact of legislationAdministrationAlternatives to flexEditor’s commentWith one of the biggest pensions changes in recent history due to begin taking effect from October this year, it is perhaps unsurprising that many employers are currently ...
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Budget 2012: Government consultation on integrating income tax and NI due in April
Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed that the consultation on the integration of income tax and national insurance (NI), as announced in the 2011 Autumn Statement, will be published in April.The plans to consult on the integration of income tax and NI were announced in a paper in November 2011, which ...
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Budget 2012: Tax reliefs capped at 25% of income for higher earners
The government is to introduce a limit of 25% of income on all uncapped income tax reliefs for those earning more than £50,000 annually, announced Chancellor George Osborne in the 2012 Budget report.This will increase effective tax rates and help ensure that those with the highest incomes pay a fairer ...
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Budget 2012: 50p tax rate to be reduced to 45p
The top 50p rate of income tax is to be reduced to 45p from April 2013.In the Budget report 2012, Chancellor George Osborne said the 50p rate, which is levied on taxable income above £150,000 a year, has damaged Britain’s competitiveness.Sean Drury, tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), said the move ...
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Budget 2012: Tax relief on luncheon vouchers scrapped from 2013
As announced in the Budget 2011 and Finance Bill 2012, the government has now confirmed that it will proceed with the abolition tax relief on luncheon vouchers from 6 April 2013.Luncheon Vouchers are currently NIC and tax exempt up to £36 a year. That is, roughly, a tax break on ...
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Budget 2012: Tax relief abolished on some group life assurance premiums
As previously announced, from 6 April 2015, tax relief will be abolished on group life assurance premiums paid by employers under employee-funded retirement benefit.Read more stories from the Budget 2012
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Duncan Brown: What is on your wish list for the Budget on 21 March?
I would like to see more substantive action announced by the Chancellor to encourage employers to provide meaningful work opportunities for young people, with record levels of youth unemployment across Europe being one of the most distressing aspects of our current economic malaise. But the problem is primarily one of ...
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David Heaton: What is on your wish list for the Budget on 21 March?
My wish list is about making life simpler for employers. All governments want to make life simpler for business: they cannot offer tax cuts, so they try to make the tax collection process as painless as possible.I would offer the following ideas:Realign the starting threshold for employer and employee national ...
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Office of Tax Simplification publishes recommendations for employee share schemes
The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has published a report on employee share schemes, recommending the removal of the approval process for sharesave schemes, share incentive plans (Sips) and company share option plans (Csops).The Review of tax-advantaged employee share schemes also recommends merging the current enterprise management incentive (EMI) and ...
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Rangers Football Club awaits ruling in employee benefits trust tribunal as it enters administration
Rangers Football Club has entered administration as it awaits the verdict in an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) tax tribunal, which concerns its use of an employee benefit trust (EBT).An EBT is a discretionary trust used for the benefit of employees. The Scottish football club used EBTs to pay players’ ...
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Incahoot partners People Value to offer high street discounts
Incahoot has partnered with employee benefits provider People Value to extend its suite of offerings to shopping discounts on the high street.The collective buying website, which offers discount schemes on home broadband, energy bills, mobile phones and insurance, has launched Incahoot Plus. It will be available for employers to add ...
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EXCLUSIVE: Freshfields saves tax and NI through salary sacrifice
Law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has saved its staff £2 million in tax and national insurance over the past 12 months through salary sacrifice, and has revamped its flexible benefits.This message was used in a poster campaign around the annual enrolment period for its Benefits Plus plan. Jackie Palmer, senior ...
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Reed Group loses tribunal appeal on salary sacrifice arrangements
Twelve Reed Group organisations have lost an appeal in a case that concerned the tax treatment of travel and subsistence payments to staff.The scheme was set up by way of a salary sacrifice arrangement.The case, in the First Tier Tribunal, concerned payments made between January 2001 and April 2006 to ...
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Police Arbitration Tribunal supports pay overhaul
The Police Arbitration Tribunal has backed major changes in police officers pay, as recommended in Tom Winsor’s Independent Review of Police Officer and Staff Remuneration and Conditions.The recommendations include a suspension on bonuses, two-year freeze on police officers moving up incremental payscales, and curbs on overtime pay.Paul McKeever, chairman of ...
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Legal and General research: Stress-related absence more likely to be taken by women
Women are nearly three times more likely to take stress-related absence than men, according to analysis by Legal and General.Using Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) statistics, Legal and General found that between October and December 2010, 31,000 women took sick days citing stress, depression or anxiety, compared to 11,000 ...
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Hays research: More than half of public sector workers would sacrifice pension for private sector job
More than half of workers in the public sector would sacrifice their pension for a career in the private sector, according to research conducted by Hays.The Hays Career Outlook Survey showed that although those working in the public sector were fiercely defensive of their pensions, they also found the private ...
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Ernst and Young research: Graduates rank training and development over a large salary
Graduates rank training and development over a large salary when selecting a future employer, according to research conducted by Ernst and Young.An online poll, which registered nearly 600 respondents, showed that 41% of graduates view training and development as the most important consideration when weighing up a potential employer. This ...
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Aviva research: Employees want easier ways to manage multiple pension pots
Employees want new and easier ways to manage multiple pension pots, research by Aviva has found.The poll of 2,000 employees in the UK found that while almost half (49%) had multiple pots, 58% were unclear of the overall value of their pension savings.However, three-quarters (75%) felt they would not have ...
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Pensions Policy Institute research: Opting out of auto-enrolment could cut value of retirement fund by 20%
Opting out of automatic enrolment into a workplace pension for the first ten years of working life could cut 20% off the value of the retirement fund, according to research conducted by the Pensions Policy Institute.The report, The impact of opting-out of private pension saving at younger ages, commissioned by ...
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MetLife Assurance research: Employers could cut back on recruitment to fund auto-enrolment
Employers may cut back on recruiting new staff to fund auto-enrolment, according to research by MetLife Assurance.Although nearly two-thirds (63%) of finance directors have not addressed the issue, 16% among organisations with more than five employees said they would cut back on recruitment in order to fund the new legislation.The ...