All Tax and legislation articles – Page 30
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Article
Queen's Speech confirms legislation on tax and NI
The Queen has confirmed that legislation will be brought forward by government to ensure there are no rises on income tax, value-added tax (VAT) or national insurance for five years. The move, which was first announced in the Conservative Party’s election manifesto, was one of the measures announced in the ...
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Article
British Gas appeals holiday pay decision
The appeal comes from the employer and its law firm Eversheds after an employment tribunal ruling in March found that commission must be included when employers calculate holiday pay.In the case of Lock v British Gas, the tribunal ruled that the Working Time Regulations should be read to ensure commission ...
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Article
Developments impacting benefits in April
Exceptions meaning employers will not be not required to auto-enrol individuals who are leaving employment, staff who cancel membership of a pension scheme before automatic enrolment and those with tax-protected status for existing pension savings have been proposed under government draft legislationThe Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled that type-two diabetes, ...
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Article
Just 1% plan to spend entire pension pot on luxuries
Just 1% of staff aged 50-75 plan to spend all their pension pot on luxuries, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).The study, which surveyed 1,200 UK adults aged between 50 and 75 years, also found that just over a quarter (27%) of respondents intend to spend some of their retirement ...
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Article
Legislation and tax changes that took effect from 6 April 2015
On 6 April 2015, a number of changes to tax and legislation impacting employee benefits came into effect.The full list of changes are:Pensions:Individuals over the age of 55 now have access to their defined contribution (DC) pension savings in full. Employees can take their savings as cash, enter drawdown or ...
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Article
EAT rules controlled type 2 diabetes is not a disability
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled that type 2 diabetes which is controlled by diet and does not have a substantial adverse effect on an employee’s day-to-day activities does not amount to disability discrimination.In the case of Metroline Travel v Stoute, the claimant was a bus driver who suffered ...
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Opinion
Jacqueline Reid: Will independent governance committees bridge the governance gap between trust and contract-based pensions?
Following increased government scrutiny of defined contribution pensions, providers of contract-based pension arrangements will have to introduce and maintain independent governance committees (IGCs) from April 2015. These changes apply to personal or stakeholder pensions run by firms regulated under financial services legislation but not to occupational trust-based schemes.In a trust-based ...
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Article
Trivial benefits in kind deferred from 2015 Finance Bill
A proposals to introduce a statutory tax exemption for trivial benefits in kind (BIK) on spends up to £50 has been dropped from the Finance Bill 2015.With the deferral of the exemption, employers will need to continue to rely on imprecise guidance and informal agreements with HM Revenue and Customs ...
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Article
Key Budget changes to employee benefits
Chancellor George Osborne announced the last Budget before the general election on 18 March 2015.Here is a round up of all the key announcements impacting employee benefits:The personal tax allowance will be increased to £10,800 from April 2016, and to £11,000 from April 2017. The allowance, which is the amount ...
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Article
Pensions lifetime allowance to reduce to £1m
Budget 2015: The government has announced that it will reduce the pensions lifetime allowance (LTA) limit to £1 million from 6 April 2016.It was also announced that from 2018, the limit will be index-linked and adjusted according to the level of inflation.The current lifetime allowance has stood at £1.25 million ...
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Article
Tax exemption introduced for DB to DC transfer advice
Budget 2015: The government is introducing an income tax exemption for payments made for advice on transfers out of defined benefit (DB) schemes to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.The new measure, announced as part of Chancellor George Osborne’s 2015 Budget, will apply to any employer that provides or pays for ...
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Article
Government to increase tax threshold for higher-rate taxpayers
Budget 2015: The government is to increase the point at which higher-rate taxpayers must start to pay 40% tax, Chancellor George Osborne has announced.It will increase by £315 in 2016-2017, and by £600 in 2017-2018. This will take the higher-rate tax threshold to £43,300 by 2017-2018.
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Article
Personal tax allowance to rise to £11,000
Budget 2015: The personal tax allowance will be increased to £10,800 from April 2016, and to £11,000 from April 2017, Chancellor George Osborne has announced during the 2015 Budget.The allowance, which is the amount employees can earn before they have to start paying tax, will enable the average taxpayer to ...
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Article
National minimum wage to rise by 3%
The national minimum wage will increase by 3% to £6.70 an hour from October 2015.The increase is equivalent to an additional 20p an hour for workers aged 21 and over, from its current rate of £6.50 an hourThis will be the largest increase to the national minimum wage in real-terms ...
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Article
Government to extend pension freedoms
The government plans to remove the restrictions on buying and selling existing annuities from April 2016 to extend its pension freedoms to five million people who have already bought an annuity. The proposed legislation is aimed at allowing pensioners to sell on their annuities, with the returns then allowed to ...
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Article
Employers will have to reveal gender pay gap
Employers with more than 250 employees will have to reveal differences in pay between male and female members of staff under a change to a law passing through Parliament.Firms that do not comply with the new rules could face fines of up to £5,000.The government will set the form and ...
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Article
Nicky Morgan: What can employers do to address the pay gap?
Tackling the gender pay gap is about more than making sure women are paid the same for doing the same job as men, although this is of course essential. It is also about ensuring women can access a range of careers, including those with higher pay, enabling them to move ...
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Article
Jon Dymond: What can employers do to address the pay gap?
While employers need to ensure that they are paying people the same money for the same work without reference to gender, as the law insists, addressing pay inequality alone will not remove the pay gap.Whether we as employers like it or not, traditionally male-dominated sectors pay more on average than ...
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Article
Greet Brosens: What can employers do to address the pay gap?
The Autumn Statement 2014 announced that the gender pay gap is at its lowest in history and this is fantastic news. However, until the pay gap is completely closed, employers will continue to experience challenges in the workplace.This disparity in pay can be damaging. It can undermine a hard-won reputation, ...
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Analysis
Key questions employers need to ask ahead of April's pension changes
If you read nothing else, read this… It is not too late for employers to prepare for the new pension reforms. Employers must decide if and how they plan to support employees approaching retirement. Preparation is likely to involve tweaking existing strategies, rather than spending additional budget, for many employers.1. ...