March 2015 - CooperFaure

The law on the provision of Workplace Pensions has been implemented in phases since 2012. Eventually, virtually all UK employers will be legally required to automatically enrol most staff into a pension scheme and to make direct contributions.

This programme began in October 2012 for the largest employers. Now, the Staging Dates for small businesses are in the process of being issued by the Pension Regulator:

Employers who have been active prior to April 2012 and with fewer than thirty employees are being issued a date on a company-by-company basis in a timeframe between 1st January 2016 and 1st April 2017.
For employers without a PAYE scheme the Staging Date is 1st April 2017.
For new employers between April 2012 and March 2013 the Staging Date is 1st May 2017.
For new employers between April 2013 and March 2014 the Staging Date is 1st July 2017.
For new employers between April 2014 and March 2015 the Staging Date is 1st August 2017.
For new employers between April and December 2015 the Staging Date is 1st October 2017.

The Staging Date is the date by which the employer has a legal duty to have an operational Workplace Pension scheme in place.

This presents an onerous additional cost on small businesses. Not only will the employer be required to contribute up to 3% of qualifying earnings into the scheme, but also there will be additional payroll costs and the cost of implementing and running the pension scheme.

However, in the following instances, we can obtain an exemption from the Automatic Enrolment programme:

– there is only one Director and there are no other staff working for the Company;

– the only people working for the Company are Directors and none of them has an employment contract;

– the only people working for the Company are Directors and only one of them has an employment contract;

– the Company has ceased trading.

If you meet one of these conditions and would like us to obtain an exemption for your Company, please could you complete the form on the link below and email it back to us at admin@cooperfaure.co.uk.

https://cooperfaure.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/AE-Exemption-Letter.doc

For our clients, as this work is outside the scope of our Letter of Engagement, there will be a fee of £90.00 plus VAT for this service.

Please note that a Company having an existing pension scheme in itself does not make it exempt from the legislation.

In addition, if a Company that currently qualifies for an exemption employs a worker in the future, then the Automatic Enrolment duties would commence. If this is after the Staging Date, there is six week deadline from the date of this employment to set up a Workplace Pension scheme.

For our clients who will not be exempt from the provision of a Workplace Pension or who decide not to apply for the exemption, we are currently evaluating a number of solutions that have been tailored to small businesses.

As a result, we will soon be publishing newsletter on the operation of a Workplace Pension scheme.

In the meantime, if you would like any further information or clarification, please email us at welcome@cooperfaure.co.uk.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer used the final Budget before the General Election in the UK to unveil some significant tax changes. However, most of these are promises for the future:

The increases in the Personal Allowance to £11,000 are staged in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 tax years as are the increases to the Higher Rate tax threshold.
From April 2016, the Personal Savings Allowance will be a tax-free allowance of £1,000 for standard rate tax payers (or £500 for higher rate taxpayers) for the interest earned on savings.
The accounts are expected to be available by autumn 2015 for the Help to Buy ISA where the government will contribute an additional £50 for every £200 saved up to a maximum contribution of £3,000.
The reform of ISAs to allow monies to be withdrawn and re-deposited in the same tax year without losing the tax benefit is scheduled for autumn 2015.
From April 2016, pensioners with existing annuities will be able to trade them for cash sums with tax applied at the marginal rate.
The abolition of the paper Self-Assessment Tax return to be replaced by digital tax accounts for individuals and small businesses will be ‘over the next Parliament’ which means by 2020. The performance of other government programmes that relied on massive IT infrastructure changes makes even this an optimistic target.

There are some measures that have come into immediate effect such as the cut in the duty on beer and spirits.

In addition, a number of measures from previous Budgets come into effect from April 2015 the most noteworthy being:

For employees aged under 21 on 6th April 2015, employers will no longer need to pay Employer National Insurance contributions on their annual earnings up to the £42,385.
The Corporation Tax rate is unified at 20% for all businesses ending the reduced rate for small businesses and Marginal Relief.
Pension flexibility comes into effect for individuals reaching the normal pensionable age so that they are no longer required to purchase an annuity but can withdraw lump sums taxed at the marginal rate.
Registration is open for the Marriage Allowance that enables a spouse or a civil partner to transfer up to £1,060 of their Personal Allowance to their partner so long as their income is less than £10,600 and their partner’s is less than £42,385.

If you would like to discuss how the Budget 2015 or the new measures that come into effect from April 2015 affect you, please email us at welcome@cooperfaure.co.uk for an initial consultation that is free and without obligation.

Workplace Pension Auto-Enrolment – Small Business and Exemptions

Budget 2015 – Promises for the Future and Tax Changes Now

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