PAYE67001 - Employment maintenance: jobseekers allowance: introduction
Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) is paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) except in Northern Ireland where it is the responsibility of the Department of Social Development.
DWP operate a modified form of PAYE. The main difference between this and what employers do is that tax is not deducted from benefit when it is paid.
Any liability to tax is calculated either
- When the JSA claim ends
- At the end of the tax year
The total number of JSA credits in the year are displayed in Employments - P14 Summary Screen.
Note: JSA credits do not translate to taxable benefits. Customers may receive Class 1 NIC credits that count towards
- JSA
- Incapacity Benefit
- ESA (Employment Support Allowance)
- State Pension
- Bereavement Benefits
- Maternity allowance
Customers do not receive NIC credits if they have paid enough NIC in the tax year to qualify for these benefits.
If the customer receives taxable job seekers allowance you will be notified by forms P14U, P45/1U, or for clerical action only cases from form PB3.
JSA claims are dealt with under the old employer reference and are classed as live records for all purposes.
The Employment Maintenance forms and procedures for dealing with periods of Jobseekers Allowance are similar to those for employments, except that the individual’s record is updated automatically with starting and leaving details.
There are various reasons such as system validation failures, which may prevent the automatic update process taking place. Where this happens, the record will be rejected and a work item will be produced for further clerical action.
Where no individual’s record can be found, no further action takes place.
In certain circumstances some couples make a joint claim to JSA and nominate one partner to receive the JSA payment.
To conform to legislation, HMRC must ensure that computer systems are not being used unless there is a legitimate business need. This applies equally to viewing records as it does to updating them. An audit trail is created each time a user accesses a record and any unauthorised or inappropriate accesses will be considered for action under the Department's Conduct and Discipline rules, and may also constitute a criminal offence.
