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Self assessment deadline is
approaching – don’t be late!
The deadline to complete your 2017 self assessment tax return
online is midnight on
31 January 2018
. You may receive a
penalty of £100 if you miss this deadline, and further penalties
will be issued for continued payment failures.
We can assist you in this process by preparing and filing your
tax return on your behalf – we will also advise you on any
payments due. Please contact us for more information.
Employers: are you ready for the new auto-enrolment requirements?
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) recently revealed that over eight million employees have now been enrolled into a workplace
pension scheme. However, with further changes in the pipeline, employers should ensure that they are up-to-date with the
latest developments.
Auto-enrolment duties for new employers
Under pensions auto-enrolment, employers have a duty to enrol
eligible employees into a workplace pension and pay a minimum
contribution into the fund. Eligible employees are those aged
between 22 and the state pension age, and who have qualifying
earnings over the auto-enrolment earnings trigger of £10,000.
The law came into force for large employers on 1 October 2012
and has been rolled out gradually with staggered ‘staging dates’.
However, from 1 October 2017 new employers must immediately
comply with their auto-enrolment duties by enrolling any eligible
employees into a workplace pension scheme, from the first day
a member of staff begins employment. This is referred to as the
duties start date. Employers will still be able to postpone some of
their duties for up to three months.
Minimum contribution rates set to rise
All businesses are required to contribute a minimum amount
towards employees’ pensions. Employees also contribute a set
minimum amount. These rates are set to rise from 6 April 2018.
From 6 April 2018, the employer minimum contribution rate will
increase from the current level of 1% to 2%. It will then rise again
on 6 April 2019, reaching 3%. Meanwhile, the employee minimum
contribution rate will increase from the current level of 1% to 3%
by 6 April 2018, rising again thereafter to reach 5% by 6 April 2019.
So by April 2018, the total combined minimum contribution rate will
reach 5%, rising to 8% from 6 April 2019 onwards. While in most
cases the employee will need to contribute, an employer may choose
to pay the full 8% or even higher.
Contributions are generally payable on qualifying earnings between
the lower threshold of £5,876 and the higher threshold of £45,000
in 2017/18.
Auto-enrolment enforcement steps up
TPR has started carrying out spot checks across the UK to ensure
that employers are complying. While TPR said that its initial findings
from these checks had been ‘positive’, statistics have revealed that
TPR used its compliance powers a total of 50,068 times during
2016/17 – an increase of 41,256 on 2016’s total. The regulatory
body suggested that this number rose in proportion to the high
volume of employers who reached their staging date. TPR issued
33,716 compliance notices in 2016/17, alongside 12,181 fixed
penalty notices and 2,527 escalating penalty notices.
Employers who fail to comply with their auto-enrolment duties will
be subject to significant penalties. Fines range from a £400 fixed
penalty, to a varying daily escalating penalty of between £50 and
£10,000, depending on the number of employees.
We can help you to stay compliant with your
auto-enrolment duties – please contact us for more
information.