In this section:
- Providing employee expenses and benefits: an overview
- Schemes that reduce expenses and benefits paperwork
- Expenses and benefits A to Z
Loans provided to employee
This guide outlines the key reporting, tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) requirements if you provide a beneficial loan to an employee or one of their relatives. It also explains what to do if you write off a loan that you've made to an employee.
To go direct to more detailed information – eg, covering aggregated loans and the difference between qualifying and non-qualifying loans - choose the link below to 'Technical guidance'.
On this page:
- Beneficial loans
- Loans written off
- Where to report - understanding the £8,500 threshold
- Technical guidance
Beneficial loans
Definitions or restrictions
The rules in this section cover interest-free loans or loans with an interest rate below HMRC's official rate of interest that are provided to your employee - or their relative - by any of the following:
- you
- a company or partnership you control
- a company or partnership that controls your business
- a person with a material interest in your business
The rules also apply if you or any of the others in the list above arrange, facilitate, or guarantee a loan, or take one over from someone else.
Note that there are other more complicated situations in which cheap or interest-free loans are covered by the rules. For more details, use the links in the 'Technical guidance' section at the end of this guide.
What to report, what to pay
For employees earning at a rate of less than £8,500 per year:
- there are no reporting requirements
- you have no tax or NICs to pay
For company directors or employees earning at a rate of £8,500 or more per year (unless the exceptions below apply):
- report on form P11D - section H
- pay Class 1A NICs on the value of the benefit
Work out the value to use
Follow the link below to find out how to work out the value to use on form P11D.
Beneficial loans – work out the value to use
Exceptions
For company directors or employees earning at a rate of £8,500 or more per year there are no reporting requirements and no Class 1A NICs to pay if any of the following applies:
- You provide a loan in the normal course of a domestic or family relationship - for example, if you provide a cheap loan to a family member who works for you. This only applies to loans you make as an individual, not to loans made by a company you control (even if you are the company's sole owner and employee).
- The combined outstanding value of your loans to an employee is less than £5,000 throughout the whole tax year.
- Your loan to an employee is for a fixed and invariable period and at a fixed and invariable rate that was equal to or higher than the official interest rate when the loan was taken out.
- You offered the same type of loan under identical terms and conditions to the general public as well as to your employee (this exception applies mainly to commercial lenders).
- You provide a 'qualifying loan' all of the interest on which qualifies for tax relief – follow the link below for technical guidance on this complex area.
EIM261220: Qualifying and non-qualifying loans
Loans written off
Definitions or restrictions
Covers any loan to an employee that you write off. For these rules to apply, the loan doesn't have to be a 'beneficial loan' of the kind described in the previous section.
What to report, what to pay
For employees earning at a rate of less than £8,500 per year:
- report on form P9D - section A(2)
- deduct and pay Class 1 NICs (but not PAYE tax) on the value of the benefit using your usual payroll procedures
For company directors or employees earning at a rate of £8,500 or more per year:
- report on form P11D - section M
- deduct and pay Class 1 NICs (but not PAYE tax) on the value of the benefit using your usual payroll procedures
Work out the value to use
The value to use is the full amount that you write off.
Where to report – understanding the £8,500 threshold
It's important to choose correctly between forms P11D and P9D for each employee. The form to use depends on the whether the employee is a director of your company and on whether their earnings are above or below an annual rate of £8,500. For more information – including details of what's included in the £8,500 threshold - follow the link below.
Technical guidance
EIM26100: Beneficial loans – contents page
NIM02210: Class 1 NICs – loans written off
EIM26116: Loans released or written off
Download 'Expenses and benefits: a tax guide' (480) – see chapter 17 (PDF 381K)
