HMRC has confirmed that it will not appeal the Upper Tribunal’s decision in favour of the taxpayers in Laing O'Rourke Services Ltd v CRC; Willmott Dixon Holdings Ltd v CRC [2023] STC 1333 concerning the National Insurance treatment of car allowances. An HMRC spokesperson said: ‘We won’t be appealing the decision of the Upper Tribunal and are considering its outcome.’
John Messore, managing partner of Innovation LLP, said HMRC has accepted the annualised calculations of the claims for Laing and Willmott. But, for any new claims, he said HMRC is likely to expect calculations based on ‘earnings periods’ which are usually monthly but could also be weekly or four-weekly.