News
Tesco targeted over unpaid workers
Members of the Right to Work group occupied the supermarket giant’s Westminster store near to the Houses of Parliament on Saturday (18 February). : According to the group Tesco has, over the past four months, used some 1,400 unpaid interns but only 300 got a job.
Tue, 21 Feb 2012 • Read more
Purely Payroll director settles legal claim
Pizzey, who is now the director of payroll recruiter Purely Payroll, was alleged to have misused information obtained from Maximvs' recruitment consultancy, Chase Moulande, thereby putting her in breach of her contractual obligations.: The allegations were defended in the High Court. An undisclosed settlement was reached. Maximvs was represented by Candey LLP.
Mon, 20 Feb 2012 • Read more
Transparency of HMRC’s RTI user group questioned after minutes remain private
The Customer User Group (CUG) includes representatives of a number of different stakeholder groups including the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP), employers, agents, software providers and the banking industry. : An HMRC spokesman told Payroll World: “The purpose of the group is to work together to resolve concerns and to test out some of HMRC’s proposals. As such it is not appropriate to publish the minutes of the meetings.
Tue, 14 Feb 2012 • Read more
Mrs Dummy? HMRC puts onus on employers to clean up data ahead of RTI
The Revenue says that every year it receives incorrect or incomplete information from employers with a recent study revealing that 128 staff were entered as Mr, Ms or Mrs Dummy, while 824 employees had the surname “Unknown”.: Another 40 employees, according to their dates of birth, were aged over 200. Many other employees had their forenames and surnames swapped around or their first names replaced by initials, which HMRC says makes them difficult to identify.
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 • Read more
‘The perfect payroll storm’ - how PwC views auto-enrolment and RTI
John Harding, tax director at PwC, told Payroll World that the profession will be facing the conditions between October 2012 and summer 2013. : Preparation for RTI, and the data cleansing necessary for compliance, is a major challenge.
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 • Read more
PwC: Companies in danger of leaving auto-enrolment preparations too late
Experts at the professional services firm say payroll is central to the process of pension auto-enrolment but how the data it collects is distributed raises a number of time consuming issues when developing effective processes.: John Harding, PwC tax director, said: “What we are coming back to more and more is that payroll is absolutely central to this whole issue, there are a lot of payroll processes and systems in place and we are now finding they need to be put together and harmonised.
Wed, 8 Feb 2012 • Read more
HMRC gains power to demand cash securities from firms it thinks will dodge paying PAYE or NICs
The new powers will be targeted at employers that deduct money from workers' pay packets, under the pretext of paying their employees’ income tax and NICs, but have no intention of paying it to HMRC. : HMRC says these employers often build up substantial PAYE and NICs debts and ignore attempts to contact them.
Tue, 7 Feb 2012 • Read more
Record number of SA tax returns filed on time as new penalty regime comes into force
The Revenue says more than 80% of returns were filed online. This was despite call-centre workers, who would have fielded queries about the process, walking out on the 31 January deadline in protest at private contracts being considered in the public sector.: Although the deadline was unchanged, HMRC announced that no penalties would be issued for online returns received by midnight on 2 February.
Mon, 6 Feb 2012 • Read more
Fraudster who filed no tax, VAT or PAYE returns for seven years jailed for 18 months
Sukhninder Singh ran a labour provider business in Norfolk recruiting workers to harvest coriander.: But he did not file a single tax, VAT or PAYE return during the profitable enterprise's life, despite £2m passing through his bank account and a £1.6m trading profit.
Mon, 6 Feb 2012 • Read more
U-turn on P45: leaver statement reform scrapped for RTI launch
Regulations, as originally drafted, introduced a leaver statement for employers operating RTI to use in place of the P45 when workers changed jobs. : However, following consultation, HMRC has decided to retain the P45 for all employees.
Mon, 6 Feb 2012 • Read more
HMRC does not understand how people are paid - controversial document reveals concerns over RTI
According to HMRC 90% of employees are already paid via Bacs, but its definition includes employers that only use Bacs via an internet banking interface – as many small companies do.: Bacs has been chosen as the strategic option for Real Time Information (RTI) submissions as it is considered sufficiently robust and secure to channel data to HMRC.
Thu, 2 Feb 2012 • Read more
Government signs off tax avoidance scheme for top civil servant just one month after pledging a ‘tougher approach’
The arrangement was disclosed on BBC Newsnight following a Freedom of Information request. The scheme means his salary is paid gross to his private service company.: In January coalition leader David Cameron said: “I think we need a tougher approach [to tax avoidance] and one of the things we’re going to be looking at this year is whether there’s going to be a more general anti-avoidance power that HMRC can use, particularly on very wealthy individuals.”
Thu, 2 Feb 2012 • Read more
HMRC call centre strike goes ahead on SA deadline day – Revenue assures people there is a two-day extension
The strikers, who work in face to face enquiry offices, have walked out as tens of thousands of taxpayers seek advice about filing their self assessment returns.: HMRC’s homepage still states: “Self Assessment. Do it online by 31 January. Even if you owe nothing. Miss the deadline and you’ll get a £100 penalty.”
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 • Read more
Online filing of tax self-assessment up 10% on last year
On deadline day last year 600,000 people filed online and 6,334,956 returns were received by midnight the day before.: “It will be hard to repeat that because the strike will knock back numbers,” a revenue spokesman said.
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 • Read more
Ceridian warns employers their systems may fail to comply with auto-enrolment - resulting in fines and prison sentences
Pension auto-enrolment for larger employers will start on 1 October 2012. Ceridian says that payroll, HR and pensions administration will need to be integrated to ensure compliance.: Each eligible employee aged between 22 and state pension age must be auto-enrolled into an employer’s qualifying pension scheme when their salary exceeds the annual salary threshold of £8,105.
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 • Read more
CIPD boss steps down as she battles with cancer
Orme, who is on long-term sick leave, intends to return to a different role at the Institute when her health permits.: Speaking about the Institute’s search for a successor, Gill Rider, CIPD president, said: “Jackie has delivered substantial change at the CIPD.
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 • Read more
Employers urged to check robustness of salary sacrifice following £158m Reed case
The recruitment agency, which is appealing the decision, paid half a million temp staff up to £6 a day for subsistence and up to £11.45 a day for commuting between 1998 and 2006 as part of a complex salary sacrifice scheme.: However, a First Tier Tribunal ruling on payments made between January 2001 and April 2006 said that despite the employee giving up a portion of salary Reed did not provide reciprocity and retained a significant portion from the arrangement, so it was not an effective salary sacrifice.
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 • Read more
Self-assessment deadline extended by two days
Interest on tax owed will also not be charged until February 2, effectively postponing the deadline for returns to this date.: As many as 7,000 HMRC staff are planning to walk out at its four call centres on 31 January, the deadline for people to file their annual self assessment tax returns.
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 • Read more
Auto-enrolment timetable changed to provide “breathing space” for small businesses
Pensions minister Steve Webb said the changes would “provide them [small businesses] with some additional breathing space to prepare for the reforms whilst operating in tough economic times”.: However, unions have criticised the decision. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “This is a deeply disappointing delay. Everyone agrees that we face a pensions crisis, with two out of three private sector workers not in any kind of workplace pension.
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 • Read more
Royal Mail pay ‘disaster’ could lead to tribunals and raises questions over in-house management of temp workers
The Guardian has reported that a growing number of workers whose pay disputes have not been resolved are now considering employment tribunal claims.: Royal Mail moved the management of temp staff to an in-house recruitment agency last year, Angard Staffing Solutions, which has already had problems coping with 110,000 applications for 18,000 temporary jobs over Christmas.
Tue, 24 Jan 2012 • Read more
