HMRC have announced new fuel rates for company cars, to apply to all journeys on or after 1 March 2014 until further notice. Employers may use either the previous or new rates for one month from the date of change, and therefore make or require supplementary payments, but are under no obligation to do either. Petrol hybrid cars are treated as petrol cars for this purpose. The amounts can be used for VAT, but employers will need to retain receipts.
Forde and McHugh Ltd v CRC, Supreme Court
Redhill Islamic Centre Trust (TC3196)
A new annual flat rate expense allowance for laundering armed forces uniforms has been agreed between HMRC and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), with the figures set as:
The allowance will be backdated to 6 April 2008, and claimants will receive the full amount due for each year of service, regardless of whether or not service started or ended part way through a year.
Step-by-step guide to setting up an enterprise management incentive plan
Leeds Design Innovation Centre Ltd, R Noble, R Watkiss and P Connolly (TC3150)
Share incentive plans (SIPs) and save-as-you-earn (SAYEs) schemes will see higher limits from 6 April.
The maximum value of free shares that can be awarded in a SIP will rise from £3,000 to £3,600 a tax year, while partnership shares will be capped at £1,800 (from £1,500), subject to the figure being no more than 10% of an employee’s annual salary.
The maximum monthly amount an employee will be able to contribute to SAYE savings arrangements will go up from £250 to £500.
The penalties regime of the real-time information (RTI) reporting of PAYE will not begin October, HMRC have announced, signalling a six-month postponement.
Automatic fines for late filing and overdue payments were due to begin on 6 April, but the Revenue has introduced a delay after finding it needed time to improve RTI systems and guidance.
The new timetable will be:
Under an unfunded unapproved retirement benefits scheme, an employee and their employer had agreed that a pension of £85,000 a year would be paid. Instead, a lump sum of £1.4m was paid to the employee
The economic outlook is improving, says the Institute for Fiscal Studies, but problems lay ahead
October 2015 has been set by the government as the launch date for the scheme to allow people to top up their additional state pension via a new class 3A voluntary National Insurance contribution.
The arrangement – announced in last year’s autumn statement – will run for a limited period to help taxpayers who will reach state pension age before 6 April 2016. Those expected to benefit most are low-earning workers, carers and the self-employed, who have always been excluded from the state second pension and state earnings related pension scheme.
Tax planning for loving couples