Top 5 Things to know in payroll this week

1.     More updates to CJRS guidance

The guidance for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is like a never-ending saga with yet more changes published on 4 February. The pages that have been updated include:

• Check if you can claim for your employees’ wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – Updated the contact HMRC paragraph and included there is no right of appeal
• Steps to take before calculating your claim using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – The section ‘What to include when calculating wages’ has been updated to give more information about non-monetary benefits and employer pension contributions under salary sacrifice schemes.
• Calculate how much you can claim using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – More information about what you can claim and that there is no right of appeal if you are ineligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been added.
• Find examples to help you calculate your employees’ wages – New calculation example added for calculating wages for different types of pension scheme (3.18).
• Claim for wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – Information that there is no right of appeal if you are ineligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been added.

2.     HMRC publish form P9X for the 21/22 tax year

An important form for those in UK payroll. The P9X is published every year by HMRC and details the tax codes to use from 6 April including how to change them and which codes to carry forward. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/p9x-tax-codes

3.     Rates and thresholds for 21/22 tax year

This is probably one of the most important pages you will need to take a look at! The rates and thresholds guidance published by HMRC include details of:

• PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance contributions
• Tax thresholds, rates and codes
• Class 1 National Insurance thresholds
• Class 1 National Insurance rates
• Class 1A National Insurance: expenses and benefits
• Class 1A National Insurance: termination awards and sporting testimonial payments
• Class 1B National Insurance: PAYE Settlement Agreements (PSAs)
•  National Minimum Wage
• Statutory Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Shared Parental and Parental Bereavement Pay
• Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
• Student loan and postgraduate loan recovery
• Company cars: advisory fuel rates
• Employee vehicles: mileage allowance payments

You can find all of this at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employers-2021-to-2022

4.     SL1 Notices for Plan 4 with start from 5 March

HMRC will begin sending out the SL1 notices to start deductions for the new Scottish student loan Plan 4 from 5 March 2021. Look out for those appearing online and through the post.

The rates and thresholds for the new tax year can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employers-2021-to-2022#student-loan-and-postgraduate-loan-recovery

5.     Check out the Payroll Forum!

Obviously I can’t finish a list of things to know in payroll without sending you to the recording of the Payroll Forum that ran on Tuesday. Take a look at https://ko-fi.com/post/Watch-Again–Payroll-Forum-February-S6S33J43D

After you’ve watched that, sign up to the next one on 5 March – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/payroll-forum-budget-update-tickets-138610438553?aff=article