Tax treatment of incentive award schemes
Companies use incentive award schemes to encourage their employees in various ways. For example, to sell more of their own goods and services. The award can be in various forms including cash, vouchers or other gifts.
Where an employer meets the tax payable on a non-cash incentive award given to a
Exempt beneficial employee loans
An employee can obtain a benefit when provided with an employment-related cheap or interest-free loan. The benefit is the difference between the interest the employee pays, if any, and the commercial rate the employee would have to pay on a loan obtained elsewhere. These types of loans are referred
Are you taking advantage of trivial benefits?
The trivial benefits in kind (BiK) exemption applies to small non-cash benefits like a bottle of wine or a bouquet of flowers given occasionally to employees. By taking advantage of the exemption employers can simplify the treatment of BiKs whilst at the same time offering a tax efficient way to
Check if you can claim working from home expenses
If you are an employee who is working from home, you may be able to claim tax relief for some of the bills you pay that are related to your work.
Note that if an employee is working at home voluntarily, they cannot claim tax relief. However, these tax reliefs are available to anyone who has been
Mobile phone exempt costs
When an employer incurs costs for the provision of mobile phones to employees it is important to understand the correct tax treatment of these expenses. This includes costs for phones provided to employees and reimbursement of employee’s own phone costs.
As a rule, the provision of one mobile phone
Changing the terms of a salary sacrifice arrangement
A salary sacrifice arrangement is effectively an agreement to reduce an employee’s entitlement to cash pay, usually in return for a non-cash benefit. This can include items such as company cars, childcare vouchers and additional employer pension contributions.
The tax and NIC advantages of certain
Exempt beneficial loans
An employee can obtain a benefit when provided with an employment-related cheap or interest-free loan. The benefit is the difference between the interest the employee pays, if any, and the commercial rate the employee would have to pay on a loan obtained elsewhere. These types of loans are referred
Annual party benefits
The cost of a staff party or other annual entertainment is generally allowed as a deduction for tax purposes. If you meet the various criteria outlined below then there is no requirement to report anything to HMRC or pay tax and National Insurance. There will also be no taxable benefit charged to
Tax-free gifts for Christmas
After a very difficult 2020, the traditional Christmas break is almost with us. If you are an employer and looking to give your employees a small token of appreciation for Christmas, then your best option is probably to give them a gift. In order to ensure that this is not a taxable gift, it is
Holiday entitlements if furloughed
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) commonly known as the furlough scheme is open to all UK employers and will now run until 31 March 2021. From 1 November 2020, employees will receive up to 80% of their salary for hours not worked with a review date in January.
One common question concerns