Aside from the plethora of schemes to support businesses during the coronavirus disruption, employers should not forget that there is a raft of filing obligations that still need to be met. This post lists the various employer reporting obligations regarding employee benefits and expenses for 2019-20.

The following table is reproduced from the government website:

1. P11Ds – these are the forms that advise HMRC of the benefits provided by employers to employees. For example, company cars, health insurance, etc.

2. Class 1A NIC is an employer National Insurance charge usually based on 13.8% of the cumulative benefits advised on P11D submissions for employees.

Employers will be relieved to note that any Class 1A NIC paid is a deduction for tax purposes.

And do not forget the P60s

Employers have a statutory duty to provide employees with a copy of their P60 – a statement of gross pay and tax deducted – for the tax year 2019-20, on or before 31 May 2020.

We can help

Clients to whom we provide payroll and associated services will be glad to know that we will complete all of the above for you; unless you have other arrangements to handle these tasks in-house.

Please call if you need help.

High street shops and other companies under strain will be protected from aggressive rent collection and asked to pay what they can during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a recent press release a government spokesperson said:

“The majority of landlords and tenants are working well together to reach agreements on debt obligations, but some landlords have been putting tenants under undue pressure by using aggressive debt recovery tactics.

To stop these unfair practices, the government will temporarily ban the use of statutory demands (made between 1 March 2020 and 30 June 2020) and winding up petitions presented from Monday 27 April, through to 30 June, where a company cannot pay its bills due to coronavirus. This will help ensure these companies do not fall into deeper financial strain. The measures will be included in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill, which the Business Secretary Alok Sharma set out earlier this month.

Government is also laying secondary legislation to provide tenants with more breathing space to pay rent by preventing landlords using Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) unless they are owed 90 days of unpaid rent.

This will further safeguard the high street and millions of jobs by helping to protect them from permanent closure during this time. However, while landlords are urged to give their tenants the breathing space needed, the government calls on tenants to pay rent where they can afford it or what they can in recognition of the strains felt by commercial landlords too.”

Under these measures, any winding-up petition that claims that the company is unable to pay its debts must first be reviewed by the court to determine why. The law will not permit petitions to be presented, or winding-up orders made, where the company’s inability to pay is the result of COVID-19.

The new legislation to protect tenants will be in force until 30 June and can be extended in line with the moratorium on commercial lease forfeiture.

Legislation will also be brought forward to prevent landlords using commercial rent arrears recovery (CRAR) unless 90 days or more of unpaid rent is owed.

The Financial Conduct Authority, the Financial Reporting Council and the Prudential Regulatory Authority have also issued a joint statement encouraging investors and lenders to consider the issues arising directly from the COVID-19 pandemic in responding to potential breaches of covenants.

Emergency legislation already introduced by government includes a suspension of forfeiture rights, which prevents all commercial tenants from being removed from their properties until 30 June. The government has also announced new insolvency measures which will provide further support to businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rules that would have limited the rights of employees in key industries to carry forward any unused annual leave will be delighted by the announcement made two weeks ago. This will mainly apply to workers in key industries such as food and healthcare.

Workers who have not taken all of their statutory annual leave entitlement due to COVID-19 will now be able to carry it over into the next two leave years, under measures introduced by Business Secretary Alok Sharma Friday 27 March.

Currently, almost all workers are entitled to 28 days holiday including bank holidays each year. However, most of this entitlement cannot be carried between leave years, meaning workers lose their holiday if they do not take it.

There is also an obligation on employers to ensure their workers take their statutory entitlement in any one year – failure to do so could result in a financial penalty.

The new regulations will allow up to four weeks of unused leave to be carried into the next two leave years, easing the requirements on business to ensure that workers take statutory amount of annual leave in any one year.

This will mean staff can continue working in the national effort against the coronavirus without losing out on annual leave entitlement.

The changes will also ensure all employers affected by COVID-19 have the flexibility to allow workers to carry over leave at a time when granting annual leave could leave them short-staffed in some of Britain’s key industries.

This week has seen a flurry of changes to the various government support schemes. We have summarised a few in this article.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)

The HMRC portal – where you formally register your claim – should be live as from 20 April 2020. HMRC have published a “user” guide to the claims process. In the general information about the scheme the guide says:

• To be eligible for CJRS an employer must agree with the employee that they are a ‘furloughed worker’.
• Employees must be notified that they have been furloughed.
• Employees must be furloughed for a minimum of three weeks.
• The employee cannot do any work for the employer that has furloughed them.
• You can claim 80% of wages up to a maximum of £2,500 per month per furloughed employee.
• A separate claim is needed for each PAYE scheme.
• You can only claim for furloughed employees that were on your PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020.
• An RTI submission notifying payment in respect of that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 19 March 2020.
• You must have a UK bank account.

The Chancellor has also confirmed that due to the extension of the lock-down period for a further three weeks, claims can be extended to 30 June 2020.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Schemes (CBILS)

A reminder that banks cannot ask for a personal guarantee if the loan is below £250,000.

For loans over £250,000, personal guarantees will be limited to 20% of any amount outstanding on the CBILS loan after any recoveries from business assets have been considered.

Having problems securing a loan from your bank?

Please call if you would like our help progressing loans with your bank.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)

Employers will be relieved that the waiting is over, as of 5.30am this morning (20 April 2020), they can login to HMRC’s new portal and claim their CJRS rebate for the first pay periods. HMRC have promised that money will be in employers’ bank accounts within six working days of registering their claims.

And just in case you missed the announcement last week, the CJRS scheme has been extended for a further month – to the end of June 2020. Claims are therefore available for a potential four months, from 1 March 2020 to 30 June 2020.

Early indications seem to be mixed, but those who have managed to login to the portal have found the process fairly straight forward.

If you are encountering problems, there is an HMRC helpline. Apparently, 5000 HMRC staff will be manning the phone lines, but as there are many more businesses that are likely to be making claims expect holding delays if you need to call.

For those in need, the information you will need to make a claim is:

1. The number of employees being furloughed
2. The dates employees have been furloughed to and from
3. Details of employees – the name and National Insurance Number of each furloughed employee
4. Your employer PAYE scheme reference number
5. Your Corporation Tax Unique Taxpayer Reference, Self-Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference, or Company Registration Number as appropriate for your entity
6. Your UK bank account details
7. Your organisation’s registered name
8. Your organisation’s address

You should make sure you have this information ready before you access the system to make a claim.

Also announced today:

Government Future Fund

The Future Fund will provide government loans to UK-based companies ranging from £125,000 to £5 million, subject to at least equal match funding from private investors.

These convertible loans may be a suitable option for businesses that rely on equity investment and are unable to access the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

The scheme will be delivered in partnership with the British Business Bank.

You are eligible If:

• your business is based in the UK
• your business can attract the equivalent match funding from third party private investors and institutions
• your business has previously raised at least £250,000 in equity investment from third party investors in the last 5 years

The Future Fund will launch in May 2020. Further details about this scheme will be published in due course.