All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 496
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Budget 2012: Real Time Information legislation updated
Following consultation, a regulation-making power will be introduced in the Finance Bill 2012 to facilitate the provision of information required for the operation of Real Time Information.The government will consult before the summer on a new model for pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) late payment and late-filing penalties, ahead of the main roll-out ...
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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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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: Personal allowance to rise to £9,205
The government has increased the personal allowance by an additional £1,100 as part of its objective to make the first £10,000 of income tax free from tax.During his presentation of the Budget report, Chancellor George Osborne announced that in April 2013 the personal allowance would rise to £9,205. The personal ...
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Budget 2012: Asset-backed pension contributions
On 29 November 2011, the government announced that legislation would be introduced to change the tax rules in relation to employer asset-backed pension contributions, with effect from the date of the announcement.On 22 February 2012, the government published further legislation, with immediate effect, to limit the circumstances in which up-front ...
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Budget 2012: Commuting small personal pension funds
As announced in the Autumn Statement 2011, the government will extend the existing pensions tax commutation rules to allow individuals aged 60 or over to commute funds of £2,000 or less held in personal pensions into a lump sum regardless of their other pension savings, subject to a maximum of ...
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Budget 2012: Unfunded workplace pension arrangements
As announced on 14 October 2010, in the summary of responses to the discussion document on restricting pensions tax relief, the government is ready to act to prevent additional fiscal risk from changes in patterns of pension saving behaviour using unregistered pension saving arrangements, including unfunded workplace pensions.The government has ...
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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 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: Royal Mail Group’s pension scheme liabilities to be transferred to government
The government intends to transfer the historic liabilities of around £37.5 billion from the private sector Royal Mail Pension Plan (RMPP) to a newly established unfunded public pension scheme, confirmed Chancellor George Osborne in the 2012 Budget report.The liabilities will leave public sector net debt unaffected, but will score alongside ...
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Budget 2012: State pension age to be linked with longevity
The government will commit to ensuring the state pension age is increased in future to take into account increases in longevity.It will also publish proposals at the same time as the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) 2012 Fiscal sustainability report this summer.According to Chancellor George Osborne in the 2012 Budget ...
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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: Armed forces to receive £100m housing boost
Chancellor George Osborne has earmarked £100 million to improve accommodations for armed forces employees and their families as part of the 2012 Budget Report.The move is expected to benefit up to 1,275 military personnel. It follows the government's announcement that the armed forces were to be given priority for all ...
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Budget 2012: Changes to qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (Qrops)
The government will introduce changes in primary legislation (in the Finance Bill 2013) to strengthen reporting requirements and powers of exclusion relating to qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (Qrops).They support the changes in secondary legislation published for consultation on 6 December 2011.The government also announced that where the country or ...
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Budget 2012: Government to introduce single-tier state pension
Chancellor George Osborne has announced that the government will introduce a single-tier state pension of around £140 per week.The new system, which was originally mooted by pensions minister Steve Webb last year, will be introduced early in the next Parliament. It will be set above the mean-tested pensions credit and, ...
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Budget 2012: Government to review role of employee share ownership and double grant limit on EMI schemes
The government is to conduct an internal review to examine the role of employee share ownership in supporting growth and examine options to remove barriers, including tax barriers, to its wider take-up.As announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the 2012 Budget report, the review will also consider the findings of ...
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Budget 2012: Delay to auto-enrolment staging dates to save government £380 million
The delay to auto-enrolment staging dates for employers with fewer than 50 employees is forecast to save the government £380 million in reduced tax relief on pension contributions by 2017.According to figures contained in the 2012 Budget report documentation, delaying the staging dates for this group until the next Parliament ...
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Budget 2012: Review to be held on differentiated regional public sector pay
The government will hold a review on whether to introduce differing regional public sector pay deals.During his delivery of the Budget report, Chancellor George Osborne said he wanted to make public sector pay more responsive to local pay rates.Daniel Hibbert, a principal in Mercer’s human capital business, said: “A change ...
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Budget 2012: Clamp down on pensions contributions via flexible benefits paid to spouses or family
The government will legislate in the Finance Bill 2013 to ensure that arrangements where an employer pays a pension contribution into a registered pension scheme for an employee’s spouse or family member as part of their employee’s flexible remuneration package cannot be used to obtain tax and NIC advantages for ...
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Budget 2012: Impact on benefits and reward
Find out how key announcements in Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget will affect benefits:Budget 2012: Clamp down on pensions contributions via flexible benefits plans paid to family membersBudget 2012: Government to introduce single-tier state pensionBudget 2012: State pension age to be linked with longevityBudget 2012: Government to review role of employee ...