Employers reminded of financial changes from April 2015

Small business owners across the UK are being reminded of a host of financial changes that will affect them going forward from this month.

Recent Budget and Autumn Statement announcements have sought to include a variety of tools to assist and support employers and their staff.

From April 2014 many businesses and charities have been entitled to a £2,000 Employment Allowance per year towards their employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) bill.

The allowance has been of great help to SMEs wishing to take on their first employee or grow their team. However, under current plans, the Employment Allowance is set to expire in March 2016 so employers are urged to claim it before it’s too late.

2015/16 tax codes

The personal allowance for 2015/16 is set to rise from £10,000 in 2014/15 to £10,600 in 2015/16, as revealed by Osborne in his Budget 2015 statement.

Employees will be given tax codes of 1060L providing their tax circumstances are straightforward and they don’t have multiple jobs or pensions.

National Insurance Contributions (NICs)

Employees’ NICs will unusually occur before employers’ NICs. Employees’ NICs will be triggered when their earning touch £155 per week, while employers will not be required to pay NICs until £156 per week.

NICs for employees under 21

From this month, employers will not be required to pay Secondary NICs for staff members under the age of 21. This applies to those with weekly earnings below a new Upper Secondary Threshold of £815 per week in 2015/16.

For a full run down of NIC information specifically for under 21s visit our full guide to the 2015/16 financial landscape.

Couples’ transferable personal allowance

From this month, 10 per cent of the £10,600 personal allowance is transferable between married couples or civil partners.
Do note that the partner giving up their personal allowance must have income of less than the personal allowance and the recipient must be a basic rate taxpayer.

New Workplace Pension rules

Everyone aged between 22 and State Pension age, earning more than £10,600 a year and working in the UK must be enrolled into a workplace pension scheme by their employer – otherwise known as auto-enrolment.

From this month, it will be the turn of employers with less than 50 employees to implement auto-enrolment schemes with smaller employers set to be phased in more gradually.

RTI reporting concessions soon to cease

Since April 2013, employers have been reporting PAYE information HMRC in real time – known as Real Time Information (RTI). However, a concession has been in place for micro employers coming to terms with the new payroll requirements. Rather than report in real time, these employers can file monthly but this concession is to cease next April.

Date published 2 Apr 2015 | Last updated 2 Apr 2015