Employees

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

OTS issues second report on employee benefits and expenses

R J Herbert Engineering Ltd (TC3132)

P Boyle (TC3103)

The taxpayer is a director and 50% shareholder in a limited company operating from one office and a 50% partner in another similar business, trading from a different office three miles away

HMRC have warned of another problem with their business tax dashboard, following the recent month eight error.

The latest error means the dashboard is not showing the correct liability position for tax months nine and ten of some PAYE schemes. Employers may find they are being told they owe more tax than expected for the affected months.