Pensions tax allowance deadline extended for NHS staff
07 August 2020
NHS employees are being granted, by the government, an extension on their pension scheme allowance liabilities for any tax bills that relate to tax year 2018-19.
In May 2020, due to the turbulence caused by the outbreak of coronavirus, the NHS Business Services Authority extended the original deadline from 31 July 2020 to 31 October 2020. NHS employees have now been granted an additional five months to submit to the voluntary NHS pension scheme, which means that the deadline now sits in March 2021.
Where employees opt to utilise the voluntary scheme, the NHS pays their annual tax allowance bill across to HMRC, which means that the members’ benefits in retirement are reduced by an identical amount, removing the requirement for staff to settle any pension tax bills with cash upfront.
The NHS pensions department must be notified if employees wish to use the scheme, before the annual deadline for tax year 2019-20.
As reported by Employee Benefits, a spokesperson at NHS Business Services Authority commented:
“In light of the pressures faced by NHS staff during the coronavirus pandemic, the NHS Business Services Authority is keen to support our NHS colleagues. Following careful consideration, we extended the voluntary scheme pays deadline for 2018/19 by three months until 31 October 2020. We have reviewed this extension again and extended the 2018/19 deadline until 31 March 2021.”
The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication. For all the latest information, news and resources on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting payroll professions, visit our Coronavirus hub.