September
2010
Minimum
Wage Rise
From
October 2010 National Minimum Wage rates will increase from:
•£5.80
to £5.93 an hour for workers aged 21 and over
•£4.83
to £4.92 an hour for workers aged 18 to 20
•£3.57
to £3.64 an hour for workers aged 16 to 17
The rise is around the two per cent mark in each category. As promised,
the government has extended the adult minimum wage rate to 21-year-olds
from October 2010. Previously the qualifying age for the National Minimum
Wage was 22.
Apprentice
minimum wage - £2.50 per hour
The government also accepted a recommendation from the Low Pay Commission
(LPC) to introduce an apprentice minimum wage of £2.50 per hour.
The
new rate will apply to:
•apprentices under 19
•apprentices aged 19 and over, but in the first year of their apprenticeship
August
2010
Late
Payments
From this
tax year, April 2010 the Revenue are sending out letters to clients
to warn them of penalty payments they may have to make if they do not
pay their Income Tax, CIS Tax and National Insurance by the 19 of the
Month.
You can
find further information at www.hmrc.gov.uk
What you
need to do
Pay
any overdue PAYE now and
Pay on time in future.
HMRC will
take action against employers and contractors who do not pay their PAYE
on time and who do not have a time to pay agreement. You can find information
about payment dates in your payslip booklet, P30B letter or at www.businesslink.gov.uk
If you
are unable to pay on time please contact HMRC or Arch Payroll before
the payment date.
HMRC will not charge penalties for the periods covered by the time to
pay agreement from the date you approached us - providing you stick
to the agreed terms.
March
2010
State
Pension Age (SPA) is changing between 2010 and 2020
As a result
of changes brought in by the pensions Act, from 6 April 2010 the age
at which women reach SPA will gradually rise to become the same as it
is for men (65). These changes will happen between 2010 and 2020 and
will affect women born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1955. All women
born on or after this date will reach SPa at age 65.
Recording
National Insurance Contributions
Currently,
employees who are over SPA (meaning 60 for women and 65 for men) do
not have to pay employee's National Insurance Contributions (NICs).
The employer however has to pay Class 1 category C rate NICs.
As the
SPA for women gradually increases, you will need to deduct, record and
pay both employee and employer Class 1 NICs for women over the age of
60 up to their new SPA.
You will
need to ensure that you have accurate dates of birth for all of your
employees in order to determine when they no longer need to pay Class
1 NICs because their SPA has been reached. Class 1 category C rate NICs
will only apply to employees working beyond their SPa.
February
2010
Are
you filing all your starter and leaver forms online?
If you
have 50 or more employees, you should now be filing your Employer Annual
return, starter and leaver forms online.
Since
6 April 2009, you have been required to send HMRC the following starter
and leaver notifications online:
- P45 (Part 1) - Details of employee leaving.
- P45 (Part 3) - New employee details.
- P46 - Details of employees starting work who do not have P45.
- P46 (Pen) - New pension details.
- P46 (Expat) - Details of those seconded to work either wholly or partly
in the UK whilst remaining employed by an overseas employer.
Penalties
In December 2009 HMRC started issuing warning letters to those employers
with 50 or more employees who are still not filing their starter and
leaver forms online.
Penalties
will range from £100 to a maximum of £3000 depending on
the number of paper forms that you send , when they should have been
done online.
The first
penalty notices will be sent in April 2010. We strongly recommend that
you now make sure that your payroll processes are working properly.
Please check that you are already sending us all your starter and leaver
notifications online.
If you
have any concerns re filing online, please contact
us
