This guide describes a number of changes of circumstance which could affect your eligibility for the NICs holiday.
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If you qualify for the holiday and the principal place where your business is carried on relocates to another of the included countries or regions, then you will continue to be able to benefit from the holiday.
If you qualify for the holiday and the principal place where your business is carried on relocates to an excluded region, the benefit of the holiday stops at that time. Earnings paid on or after the date your principal place of business relocates to an excluded region do not qualify for the holiday.
If you do not qualify for the holiday because your principal place of business is carried on in an excluded region when it starts up, but you later move into an included region you will not qualify for the holiday following the change of your principal place of business.
Where a business which is receiving the holiday is taken over or sold, the holiday will cease from the point of transfer or sale.
If a qualifying employee leaves and is re-engaged by you, the holiday period for that employee is calculated based on when the employee first started to work for your business. The employee counts only once towards your limit of ten.
If you stop being an employer, you will no longer be paying employees and so no longer required to pay employer NICs. In this case you will no longer be able to take advantage of the NICs holiday.
You should however contact HMRC so that they can bring your records up-to-date and so prevent unnecessary reminders and possibly also penalties being issued for forms you no longer need to complete.
You must retain your records in order to complete an Employer Annual Return (forms P35 and P14) at the end of the tax year. HMRC will also provide an online NICs holiday return form, which you should complete and return at the same time.
If you are offered 'de minimis State Aid' from another source while you are operating the holiday, you should declare to that source the maximum State Aid (the figure that is shown in your confirmation email or letter) and not the amount of employer NICs you have or will have benefited from during the holiday.
To convert this amount into Euros, you will need to use the conversion rate on the EC exchange rate website that was in force on the date of the letter or email you received from HMRC confirming that you qualified for the holiday.
Find the correct conversion rate on the European Union website (opens new window)
Further guidance on State Aid and the impact on the NICs holiday
If you have already had State Aid and the maximum aid offered to you through the holiday would take you over the limit for your particular business sector then you must contact HMRC to arrange to pay back any State Aid you have had as part of the NICs holiday in its entirety, not just the amount of State Aid that took you over the limit.
