Tax & legal news 1 – Page 21
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New Tupe regulations come into force
Changes to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Tupe) regulations come into effect on 31 January.The new rules mean:Changing employees’ terms and conditions of employment after a Tupe transfer will be easier, albeit in limited situationsChanges to terms and conditions of employment derived from collective agreements will be possible, ...
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OTS publishes recommendations on benefits tax
The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has put forward recommendations on simplifying and streamlining the system for reporting and taxing employee benefits and expenses.The report, which builds on an interim report published last year that set out a series of nine quick wins, includes 20 proposals to simplify the process ...
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Get up to date on tax compliance at Employee Benefits Connect
To help attendees stay on the right side of the tax man, Lesley Fidler, associate director at Baker Tilly, will give an update on the latest tax issues around salary sacrifice arrangements.She will:recap why salary sacrifice provides tax and/or national insurance contribution (NIC) savingsexplain what is expected to happen to ...
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John Collison: Will the increase in share scheme limits boost scheme members?
IFS Proshare was delighted to learn that Chancellor George Osborne is to increase investment limits on sharesave plans to £500 a month and on share incentive plans (Sips) to £1,800 a month.Although no one can say for certain whether increasing the limits will immediately result in more organisations launching employee ...
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Employers face increased minimum wage penalties
Employers that do not pay employees the national minimum wage will face an increased penalty of up to £20,000.The government is to increase the financial penalty percentage from 50% to 100% of the unpaid wages owed to workers found to be underpaid, plus the penalty fine of up to £20,000.Currently, ...
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First Autumn Statement changes take effect
The investment limits for share plans will increase from April 2014. The limits on sharesave schemes will double from £250 to £500 a month, while the maximum value of shares that an employee can acquire with tax advantages through share incentive plans will rise to £1,800 for partnership shares and ...
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Share scheme limit rise divides opinion
The limits on sharesave schemes will double from £250 to £500 a month, while the maximum value of shares an employee can acquire with tax advantages through share incentive plans (Sips) will increase by £300 a year, to £1,800 for partnership shares and £3,600 for free shares.Phil Hall, specialist adviser ...
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Bonus cap for bankers takes effect
New legislation to cap European bankers’ bonuses took effect from 1 January 2014.The legislation, which was agreed in March 2013 by the European Parliament and European Commission, will apply to bonuses paid in 2015.The law means that:A salary/bonus ratio of 1:1 can be raised to 1:2 with a shareholder vote ...
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Richard Lloyd: Will the government’s proposed 0.75% pension charges cap be enough?
There is an urgent need for better minimum standards for all workplace pensions so that employees can be confident they are being enrolled into high-quality, good-value schemes. We are calling on pensions minister Steve Webb to do more to protect employees’ retirement funds, so we have launched the Hands off ...
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Pension charge cap assessment deemed ‘not fit for purpose’
The Regulatory Policy Committee at the Department for Business has ruled that the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) impact assessment on a pension charges cap is ‘not fit for purpose’.The DWP launched its consultation in October, which included a cap on pension charges at 0.75%.The Regulatory Policy Committee said ...
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EBA agrees definition of identified staff for remuneration purposes
The European Banking Authority (EBA) has agreed its final draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on criteria to identify categories of staff whose professional activities have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile.These identified staff will be subject to provisions related, in particular, to the payment of variable remuneration.The standards ...
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Advocate-General rules holiday pay should include commission
Holiday pay should be calculated to include commission, according to Advocate General Bot of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).The case, Lock v British Gas Trading Ltd and ors Case C – 539/12, concerns Lock, a sales consultant for British Gas, who receives commission on a monthly ...
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Lloyds fined for failings in sales incentive plans
Lloyds Banking Group, which includes Lloyds TSB Bank, Bank of Scotland and Halifax, has been fined £28,038,800 by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for serious failings in its control over sales incentive schemes.The incentive schemes rewarded the banks’ advisers through variable base salaries, individual and team bonuses, and one-off payments ...
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Regulator launches public sector pensions consultation
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published a consultation on a draft code of practice to help public service pension schemes meet governance and administration requirements set out in legislation.The Regulating public service pension schemes: our approach to enabling high standards of governance and administration consultation will run until 17 February ...
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BA takes legal action against pension trustees
British Airways has launched legal action against its pension trustees to try to prevent it from increasing the amount the airline has to pay into its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The British Airways Pension Scheme (APS) had its annual increases to payments changed in 2011 from being linked to the ...
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Helen Forrest: Will the government's proposed 0.75% pension charges cap be enough?
Pensions can be complex, so it is important that members can be confident that their pension offers value for money. That is why the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has been working to promote an industry benchmark for good quality pensions through our Pensions Quality Mark standard.Charges have been ...
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How the Autumn Statement will impact employee benefits
Chancellor George Osborne (pictured) presented the Autumn Statement on 5 December.Here is how it will impact employee benefits:Share scheme limits to increaseRise in state pension age brought forwardOTS to implement nine quick wins on employee benefitsGovernment to extend tax exemption on employer-paid healthcareFuel duty increase cancelledTax exemption on bonuses under ...
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HMRC wins income tax avoidance case
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has won a tax tribunal ruling in an income tax avoidance scheme, which is expected to protect up to £400 million in tax that would otherwise not have been paid.The scheme was marketed by Consulting Overseas Limited to independent contractors as a remuneration package that ...
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Annuity market does not work for retirees
The annuity market does not work well for the majority of retirees according to the findings of research into the consumer experience of purchasing an annuity, published by the Financial Services Consumer Panel.In its report, the panel recommends urgent regulatory and government-led structural reform in order to prevent millions of ...
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Rise in state pension age brought forward
Autumn Statement 2013: The government has brought forward the increase in the state pension age, to 68 by the mid-2030s and to 69 by the late-2040s.The government had already taken action to control pension expenditure over the medium term by bringing forward the rise in the state pension age to ...