Letters Page

We welcome contributions for the Employer Bulletin letters page.

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Payroll Giving

Why is there no provision for charitable deductions to be calculated or shown on either the P11 Deduction Working Sheet or on the P14/P60 End of Year Summary or End of Year Certificate?
As Payroll Giving is deducted from gross pay prior to taxation the total pay figure shown on the P11, P14 and P60 is not a true reflection of the actual gross pay.

Or am I missing something?

A Owen
Cleveland

Whilst employers must maintain records of Payroll Giving deductions, we don't require them to report these to HMRC; that is done by the Payroll Giving Agencies who distribute the donations to charities. The forms P11, P14 and P60 are designed to provide the information required by the PAYE, NIC and Student Loan regulations so do not include charitable donations for PAYE income purposes. It is therefore true to say that the pay for tax purposes is not 'actual gross pay'. As Payroll Giving donations do not qualify for relief from NIC however, these donations are included within figures of earnings on the various forms. Booklet CWG2, Employer Further Guide to PAYE and NICs gives you more information about Payroll Giving.

Employer Packs

I undertake the payroll for 7 different establishments around the country.

I was dismayed to read in your letter dated April/May 2007 accompanying the Budget Pack 2007 that you will not be sending out paper-based Employer Packs. I do not have a computer so the CD-ROM is of no use. Even this year, I have not received an Employer Pack for all my clients, but having received some, I knew what was enclosed and what I needed to order. How will I know what’s what for next year?

P Watkins
Worcester

We realise there are employers who do not have computers, so we are still stocking paper copies that can be ordered from the Orderline on 0845 7 646 646. If you don’t know which forms you need, just ask them to send you all the contents that used to be in the paper pack. Staff at the Orderline will know what to order for you.

If you have not received a pack at all it could be that the Employer Pack signal is not set on the employer’s record. Just contact your local office and ask them to set the signal. Or it could be that we have suppressed the Pack being issued. This is due to agents complaining they receive too many packs – one for each of their clients. If, when we extract the data for the mailing, there are identical addresses which re-occur more than three times, we automatically issue two packs and suppress the rest.

As with all things we try to please the majority of people but realise that it does not suit every single employer.

Form P60

Having read the “useful tips” letter I have some comments about the issue of P60s. During the year we employ about 200 students on NT tax code and 20 or so teachers, working during their holidays, on BR codes. Not sending P60s to these employees means they have no statement of earnings for the year. Also, students working say from April to December on a single person’s code, but not working during the last few months, could have overpaid tax! Again, they would not have a statement of their earnings. And as we usually don’t know whether students are coming back to work for us, we don’t make them leavers.

H Cowell
Surrey

Depending on circumstances you can either follow the P38(S) procedure or normal P45/P46 procedure.

The P38(S) procedure may be followed where the student works during school holidays only and total pay does not exceed the personal allowance. This does not affect the payment and recording of NICs and allows you to make payments without;

• Following normal P45/P46 procedure,
• Deducting tax, even if the pay exceeds the emergency code limit.

At year end you must complete form P14/P60 for each student who has signed a P38(S), satisfied the conditions and received payments at or above the Lower Earning Limit.

Where a student works outside school holidays and does not complete a P38(S), or the total pay for the year is more than the personal allowances, you must follow normal P45/P46 procedures.

Teacher’s allocated code BR must also follow normal P45/P46 procedures.

Where you have followed normal PAYE procedures for students or teachers that have not left during the year, or treated as having not left during the year, they are regarded as employed by you at 5 April and you must complete forms P14 and P60 where payments have been made at or above the Lower Earning Limit.

Students or teachers leaving during the year must be issued with an individual P45.