All Tax and legislation articles – Page 38
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ArticleYvonne Stewart: Is shared parental leave a good thing?
We definitely see it as a positive thing.Dell has a longstanding culture of encouraging team members to optimise their work-life balance. We offer online training to help employees assess their current work-life balance, and overcome any internal and external obstacles to achieving a healthy balance.Our goal is to ensure that ...
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ArticleHigh Court ruling protects bankrupts' pensions
A bankrupt has retained his pension after a High Court judge held that he should not be compelled to hand it over under an Income Payments Order (IPO).The case of Horton v Henry could mean that bankrupts’ pensions are protected after the freedom and choice reforms that come into force ...
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ArticleEllen Broome: Is shared parental leave a good thing?
The reforms are a very welcome development. It is truly encouraging to see the government acknowledging the importance of supporting parents to make genuinely free choices about their work and family lives.By removing one of the key barriers to fathers playing a full and equal part in family life, the ...
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ArticleKey tax and legislative changes that took place in December
The government announced plans to simplify pensions auto-enrolment to ease the burden on employers. The Department for Work and Pensions’ consultation, Technical changes to automatic-enrolment: consultation on draft regulations, set out changes to legislation that include the introduction of an alternative quality requirement for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes.An Employment ...
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OpinionRichard Kandler: Taxation of death benefits and changes from April 2015
In broad terms, this can be regarded as an extension of tax relaxations recently announced in relation to lump-sum death benefits. Those changes do not affect either the inheritance tax or lifetime allowance (LTA) positions, but they do ease the burden of the current 55% ’special tax charge’.For payments made ...
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ArticleKey points from the 2014 Autumn Statement
The Chancellor said the government had accepted 51 of 58 recommendations made by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) that were aimed at making the taxation of employee benefits and expenses more straightforward. This will help to reduce the administrative burden on employers, saving an estimated £20 million a year ...
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ArticleDWP publishes Fit for Work guidance
Guidance for employers participating in the government’s Fit for Work scheme clarifies the tax exemption available on the cost of medical care for employees who are off sick.Fit for work, guidance for employers, published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on 2 January, confirms that the tax exemption ...
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ArticleGovernment acts to reduce holiday pay claim costs
The government has taken action to reduce the potential cost of holiday pay claims for employers.Last month, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled that holiday pay should reflect non-guaranteed overtime.The government has recognised that the EAT’s decision requires organisations to have protection against the potential impact of large backdated claims. ...
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ArticleEuropean court rules obesity is a disability
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that obesity is a disability.The ECJ found that while no general principle of European Union (EU) law prohibits discrimination on the grounds of obesity, the condition falls within the concept of ‘disability’ and whether it hinders participation in professional life.The case of ...
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ArticleDate set for Asda equal pay hearing
The gap was highlighted when an equal pay claim was taken out against Asda by female shop-floor employees, who claimed they were being paid £4 per hour less than their male counterparts working in the organisation’s warehouse.Lawyers Leigh Day said it had been approached by 19,000 Asda employees, mainly women, ...
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ArticleClare Bettelley: Employers should communicate holiday pay ruling to staff
Firstly, the ramifications of the ruling remain unclear. For example, should voluntary overtime be included in calculations? And exactly how far should employers backdate pay?Secondly, in light of these uncertainties, how can employers possibly calculate the likely impact of the ruling on their organisation? And so, thirdly, should employers start ...
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ArticleSupreme Court rejects Amazon hourly pay case
The US Supreme Court has ruled that employees working in an Amazon warehouse are not entitled to be paid for time spent waiting in lines before or after their shifts.Employees at one of the organisation’s contractors, Integrity Staffing Solutions, that staff a Nevada warehouse often have to wait up to ...
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Article23% think shared parental leave will help gender discrimination
Less than a quarter (23%) of UK employees believe that new shared parental leave reforms will result in women being viewed more favourably by employers, according to a study conducted by Enterprise Rent-A-Car.The research, drawn from a survey 2,012 employees and 100 recruitment decision makers in November 2014, also revealed ...
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ArticleEAT rules that holiday can be carried over
Holiday allowance can be carried over where employees are unable to take annual leave because of reasons beyond their control.An Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) found in NHS v Larner in 2012 established that employees can take holiday at a later date because of sickness, but in The Sash Window Workshop ...
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ArticleFinance Bill includes tax changes
The draft Finance Bill 2015, published yesterday, provides more detail on the diversion of profits for multinationals, further guidance on changes to pension flexibility and narrowing of the options for small business tax planning.The 552-page draft bill also includes changes to individual savings account (Isa) allowances between spouses on death ...
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ArticleHMRC provides VAT guidance on pension fund management costs
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has provided further guidance in its Revenue and Customs Briefs on VAT in relation to pension funds management costs and services.The publication details the consequences of the European the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) Europe in PPG Holdings BV and confirms the ...
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AnalysisDetails of the four pensions bills going through Parliament
The Finance Bill 2014This gave HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) new powers to prevent pension liberation schemes being registered starting 20 March 2014 and made it easier to de-register such schemes if, in HMRC’s opinion, the scheme administrator is not a fit and proper person.Pensions Act 2014This received royal assent ...
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ArticleAutumn Statement's impact on benefits
Chancellor George Osborne gave his Autumn Statement on 3 December 2014. There were several changes impacting employee benefits.Chancellor confirms plans to scrap pensions death taxGovernment to go ahead with OTS benefits simplification reformsPersonal tax allowance to rise to £10,600Higher-rate tax threshold to riseIsa tax advantages extended to partnersFuel duty to ...
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ArticleGovernment to go ahead with OTS benefits simplification reforms
Autumn Statement 2014: The government has confirmed that it will go ahead with the Office Of Tax Simplification’s (OTS) recommendations and reform the rules for employee benefits and expenses.It has accepted 51 of the 58 recommendations made by the OTS.The proposals will make the taxation of benefits and expenses more ...