National Insurance Contributions (NICs) Employment Allowance: an update

24 July 2014

 

HMRC have issued an update on the claims to date and a reminder of the procedure for those employers who may not yet have claimed.

HMRC report that, since the introduction of the Employment Allowance in April this year, “over half of all eligible businesses (725,000 employers at the end of June) have benefitted from the Employment Allowance, which offers businesses and charities up to £2,000 off their employer Class 1 NICs bill every year. This has resulted in around £500 million of employer NICs relief.

Employers can still claim the Employment Allowance for 2014-15, even though the tax year has started. If your clients ask whether they are eligible and how to claim, more information is available on GOV.UK.”

More detailed guidance has also been published.

HMRC’s message adds that “in September your clients might receive an electronic Generic Notification Service (GNS) message from HMRC, encouraging them to check eligibility and claim the Employment Allowance, if they haven’t already done so.

It is important to remember, the allowance can only be claimed once for each employer and not for each PAYE scheme. So, even if an employer receives a reminder to claim the Employment Allowance, they must ensure they are only claiming once against one PAYE scheme, especially if the business runs multiple schemes. And it can only be claimed once for each employer or group of employers.”