ASSOCIATION NEWS
A NEW YEAR TAX BONUS?
IT’S BEEN AN expensive time of year. After forking out for your mother-in-law’s new tea cosy and your dog’s fancy collar, the last thing you need is to have to buy new overalls and brushes before payday. However, HMRC has a little gift for you in the form of flat rate expenses allowances. Put simply, flat rate allowances mean you can claim
for the cost of things you have to buy for your job without having to provide receipts. It doesn’t apply to everyone, accountants don’t get a calculator allowance for example, but if you are an employee and you have to clean your work uniform or spend your own money on repairing or replacing equipment you need to do your job, you can claim some cash. Do note however, that if your employer pays you
back for all of your expenses you cannot claim any tax relief, as that would be double counting. Harsh but fair. While most people in the industry don’t wear a
uniform, although perhaps liveried decorators is a trick we are all missing, protective clothing is also included. Examples of items covered by the flat rate allowance given by HMRC include: • repairing or replacing your small tools (for example scissors if you’re a hairdresser, trowels if you’re a plasterer and spanners if you’re a mechanic)
• cleaning, replacing and repairing your specialist or protective clothing (for example hard hats, protective boots and overalls) Note that you cannot claim relief on the initial cost
of buying small tools or clothing for work, just for replacing, fixing or cleaning them. The amount you can claim depends on your
industry and occupation, with a wide range of jobs shown on HMRC’s website. However, while our labouring and navy colleagues get a special mention (£60) and stonemasons get a lofty £120, painters and decorators are not specifically included in the list, meaning the default amount of £60 per tax year would normally apply. If you fancy getting a bigger deduction you could
always try persuading HMRC you are in fact an air hostess, and claim a whopping £720, although you would have to have perfected the smile. Of course, while many people find flat rate
expenses easier, if you do want to claim the exact amount you have spent, as £60 isn’t necessarily going to keep anyone in brushes and rollers for a year, you can claim the full amount you have spent, but you do need to keep the receipts. Note also that £60 is available per year, and you
can claim up to four years after the end of the tax year in question, so that means up to four years’ worth is potentially available to claim now. For both flat rate and standard claims, you can
either claim through self-assessment if you already complete a return, or submit a claim form to HMRC online or by post. Just search “P87 claim” on
gov.uk
Advice from our Associates
PAYSLIPS – WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?
AN EMPLOYEE HAS the right to be given a written, itemised pay statement by their employer. A factor sometimes overlooked by employers is that this must be provided at or before the time when any payment of wages or salary is made. Where the employer chooses to provide payslips
online, they should remember that the obligation is to give the statement on or before payday. Therefore, if there were any technical problems and payslips were not available online until after payday the employer would technically be in breach. Employers usually provide further information (such as
National Insurance numbers) on a pay slip. However, itemised pay statements must include at least the following information: • The gross amount of wages or salary. • The amounts of any variable and any fixed, deductions from that gross amount and the purposes for which they are made (subject to the ability to provide a statement of fixed deductions instead).
• The net amount of wages or salary. Where different parts of the net amount are paid
in different ways, the amount and method of each part-payment. Also, in order to demonstrate compliance with national minimum wage legislation, employers must keep
PDA Members get free access to the Markel Law Hub, register via the PDA website and use your token code on the 2020 Membership Card.
sufficient records of the hours worked by and the payments made to their workers. In a change to the law in April last year, payslips also
need to itemise the number of hours paid where a worker is paid on an hourly rate basis. The number of hours must be given as either a single figure or as separate figures for different types of work (or rates of pay). Additionally, all workers (including agency workers and
zero hours’ workers) are entitled to itemised payslips in the same way as employees. Only the genuinely self- employed are not entitled to receive an itemised payslip.
Remedy for failure to provide
an itemised pay statement Where a tribunal finds that any unrecorded deductions (i.e. deductions not included on a payslip) have been made during the 13 weeks immediately before the employee's claim to the tribunal, it may order the employer to pay compensation of up to the aggregate amount of those unrecorded deductions during the 13-week period, if the tribunal decides this is more than a technical breach and the claimant has suffered actual loss. This means that although the deduction made is
perfectly lawful (for example deductions made from pay at source for PAYE or NICs, which the employer is legally obliged to make) the employer may still be ordered by the tribunal to pay this back to the employee (in respect of the last 13-week period), where the employee has not been notified of the deduction in advance and the tribunal finds it is proportionate to do so. PDA Members have inclusive access to the
Markel Legal Advice Line – give them a call to discuss your legal issues.
PROVIDING WORKING AT HEIGHT GUIDANCE The Construction Industry Advisory Committee (CONIAC) Managing Risk Well Working Group has developed Safety Steps guidance jointly with leading industry organisations, dedicated to keeping people who need to work at height safe. Hosted and launched by the Access Industry Forum,
SAFETY STEPS LAUNCHED
the guidance provides essential messages that can be used, in whole or part, by those who aim to produce any type of output for the five target audiences: designer, client, manager, supervisor, and operative. From toolbox talks to checklists, providing a structure for
training material content to informing flowcharts, Safety Steps has a wide range of uses. The full guide and downloadable documents can be found online at
www.accessindustryforum.org.uk/safety-steps
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