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Gender change
Transsexuals are allowed to legally change their recorded gender under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which came into effect on 4 April 2005. If an application is successful a full gender recognition certificate is issued. A holder of such a certificate has all the same rights as other people of his or her acquired gender.
If an employees has made a successful application and presents the employer with a full gender recognition certificate, the employer will need to:
- take a copy;
- update his personnel records to reflect the employees acquired gender and the title by which he or she wants to be known; and
- review the employee's National Insurance position. This may change if the employee is aged 60 or over or has been paying reduced rate contributions.
The P14 should show the recognised gender at the date of completion not the gender at birth.
Further information and a list of FAQs can be found on the gender recognition page of the Revenue's website.
Employers' Bulletin 20 — April 2005.
Tax credits
The Revenue will be finalising claimants' awards for 2004-05 between now and the end of September. As they renew their claims, the Revenue will be setting their initial awards for 2005-06 based on their actual income and circumstances in 2004-05. In the next few months, the Revenue will issue at least one stop or amendment notice for each employee receiving working tax credit. In some cases the employer will receive two notices for the same employee; one will be as a result of finalised personal circumstances and the other will be as a result of reviewing their income. If more than one notice is received for the same employee with the same effective date, tax credits should be paid in line with the notice with highest issue number.
The Chancellor announced in the 2005 Budget that the payment of working tax credit via employers (PVE) would be phased out between November 2005 and April 2006. Before making detailed arrangements, the Revenue will consult further with employers' representatives. Nearer the time, it plans to explain the change by writing to all employers who pay working tax credit and sending information direct to all affected employees. Employers will have to inform employees shortly before the phasing out begins. In the meantime, unless the Revenue says otherwise, working tax credits should be paid as usual.
Employers Bulletin 20 — April 2005.
Tax law rewrite
Draft clauses and explanatory notes on the following topics have been published for public consultation:
- trade unions and employers' associations;
- limits on liability to income tax of non-UK residents;
- post-cessation expenditure;
- joint property;
- heritage maintenance settlements;
- Schedule 16.
Comments on the draft clauses should be received by 29 July 2005.
www.hmrc.gov.uk
DTR guidance
The 2005 Finance Act contained Double Taxation Relief measures in Chapter 9. Draft guidance is available on: double taxation relief on trade receipts, anti avoidance and underlying tax.
The guidance will be incorporated into the International Manual over the coming months. The Revenue welcomes comments on the draft guidance. Comments should be sent to: Andrew Page or Martin Brooks, HMRC, 3rd Floor (Central), 100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ, e-mail: Andrew.Page@ir.gsi.gov.uk, tel: 020 7147 2680; e-mail: Martin.Brooks@ir.gsi.gov.uk, tel: 020 7147 7720.
www.hmrc.gov.uk
Spinout companies
The Revenue has recently published guidance on spinout companies on its website. This covers various issues relating to such companies and is based on changes that came into effect from 2 December 2004 in FA 2005.
www.hmrc.gov.uk
SSP calculator
A new calculator designed to help employers work out if they have to pay statutory sick pay to their employees and how much they may be able to recover is now available on HMRC's website.
www.hmrc.gov.uk
