NIM13100 - Class 1A NICs: Liability for Class 1A NICs: Person liable to pay Class 1A NICs

Section 10(2) SSCBA 1992

Legally, the person liable to pay Class 1A NICs is:

• the person who is liable to pay secondary (employer) Class 1 NICs on the last or only relevant payment of earnings to an earner in the tax year in which the benefit is provided, or
• if there is no Class 1 NICs liability because a relevant payment of earnings has not been made, the person who would have been liable if the benefit provided had itself been a payment of earnings.

An exception to this general rule occurs where a benefit is provided to an employed earner by someone other than his or her employer - usually called a third party benefit, see NIM16350. In the remainder of this guidance, a person’s employer is assumed to be the person liable to pay Class 1A NICs unless otherwise stated.

Guidance on what is meant by a “relevant payment of earnings” is contained at NIM13110.