EIM06245 - Employment income: scholarship income: rates of payment under Statement of Practice 4/1986: examples

Statement of Practice 4/86

Example 1

Sue's employer pays for her to attend college. The course starts in September 2005 and finishes at the end of the academic year in June 2006. During this period she has vacations in December and March when she works for her employer. She is paid her normal monthly salary while working for her employer during these vacations. Her income while working during her vacations is subject to tax and Class1 NICs, because the exemption under SP4/86 only applies to income when attending college.

Sue’s employer pays her £3,300 in September 2005 to cover the first term of the academic year and then pays two further amounts of £3,300 in January 2006 and April 2006 to cover the second and third terms. These three amounts of £3,300 are exempt from tax and NICs because they meet all the conditions of SP 4/86 including being less than the financial ceiling of £15,000.

Example 2

Sanjay’s employer pays for him to attend college. The course is a three year one; each academic year starts in September and finishes the following June. The course starts in September 2005 and finishes June 2008. During this period he has vacations in December, March, July and August when he works for his employer. He is paid his normal monthly salary while working for his employer during the vacations. His income while working during his vacations is subject to tax and Class1 NICs, because the exemption under SP4/86 only applies to income when attending college.

Sanjay’s employer pays him £2,500 in September 2005 to cover the first term of the first academic year and then pays two further amounts of £2,500 in January 2006 and April 2006 to cover the second and third terms. These three amounts of £2,500 are exempt from tax and NICs, because they meet all the conditions of SP 4/86 including being less than the financial ceiling of £15,000 for the 2005-06 academic year.

For this example the financial ceiling will remain at £15,000 for the three years. However, in normal circumstances the financial ceiling will be subject to annual review.

Sanjay’s employer pays him £4,000 in September 2006 to cover the first term of the second academic year and pays a further amount of £5,000 in January 2007 for the second term. Then in April Sanjay is paid £6,000 for the final term. The three amounts of £4,000, £5,000 and £6,000 are exempt from tax and NICs, because they meet all the conditions of SP 4/86 including being less than the financial ceiling of £15,000 for the 2006-07 academic year.

Sanjay’s employer pays him £6,000 in September 2007 to cover the first term of the final academic year and pays a further amount of £6,000 in January 2008 for the second term. Then in April Sanjay is paid £6,000 for the final term. The whole of this final £6,000 payment is subject to tax and Class 1 NICs because it takes the total payments received in the academic year over the £15,000 ceiling. However, the two previous payments of £6,000 in the 2007-08 academic year still remain exempt from tax and NICs, as are the £7,500 and £15,000 paid to Sanjay in the respective 2005-06 and 2006-07 academic years.