The latest Clay Shaw Butler Money Matters column from the Carmarthenshire Herald

The latest Clay Shaw Butler Money Matters column from the Carmarthenshire Herald.
By Mark Jones, director of Carmarthen-based Clay Shaw Butler chartered accountants and business consultants.

If you are a boss, then there’s plenty to ponder in the small print of the Government’s Autumn Statement.
Over the last few weeks, Money Matters has focussed on some of the main earthquake items in Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement.
This week, the focus is more on the after-shocks and the small print in some of the employment tax issues.
The Chancellor George Osborne combined the Autumn Statement and with what is called a Spending Review when he presented his key points to Parliament.
Here is out summary of just some of the key employment tax issues –
Employer provided cars:
The scale of charges for working out the taxable benefit for an employee who has use of an employer provided car are now announced well in advance. Cars are taxed by reference to bands of CO2 emissions. From 6 April 2015 the percentage applied by each band went up by 2% and the maximum charge is capped at 37% of the list price of the car.
From 6 April 2016 there will be a further 2% increase in the percentage applied by each band with similar increases in 2017/18 and 2018/19. For 2019/20 the rate will increase by a further 3%. It had been expected that the 3% diesel supplement would be removed from 6 April 2016, however this 3% differential will now be retained until April 2021.
NIC for apprentices under 25:
The Government will abolish employer NIC up to the upper earnings limit for apprentices aged under 25. This will come into effect from 6 April 2016. Draft regulations have been issued to define a relevant apprentice. An apprentice needs to:
be working towards a Government recognised apprenticeship in the UK which follows a Government approved framework/standard
have a written agreement, giving the Government recognised apprentice framework or standard, with a start and expected completion date.
The proposals exclude apprenticeships which do not follow Government approved frameworks, also known as common law apprenticeships.
Apprenticeship levy:
The Government will introduce the apprenticeship levy in April 2017. It will be set at a rate of 0.5% of an employer's paybill, which is broadly total employee earnings excluding benefits in kind, and will be paid through PAYE. Each employer will receive an allowance of £15,000 to offset against their levy payment. This means that the levy will only be paid on any paybill in excess of £3 million.
National Living Wage:
The Government will introduce a new National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 25 and above, by introducing a premium on top of the National Minimum Wage (NMW). From April 2016, the NLW will be set at £7.20 an hour. This rate is 50p higher than the current NMW rate
NIC Employment Allowance:
The NIC Employment Allowance was introduced from 6 April 2014. It is an annual allowance which is available to many employers and can be offset against their employer NIC liability.
From April 2016, the Government will increase the NIC Employment Allowance from £2,000 to £3,000 a year. The increase will mean that businesses will be able to employ four workers full time on the new NLW without paying any NIC.
To ensure that the NIC Employment Allowance is focussed on businesses and charities that support employment, from April 2016, companies where the director is the sole employee will no longer be able to claim the Employment Allowance.
Review of employee benefits:
From 6 April 2016 a number of changes are introduced relating to the tax treatment of employee benefits in kind and expenses:
The £8,500 threshold below which employees do not pay income tax on certain benefits in kind will be removed. There will be new exemptions for carers and ministers of religion.
There will be a statutory exemption for certain expenses reimbursed to an employee. This will replace the current system where employers have to apply for a dispensation to avoid having to report non-taxable expenses (on forms P11D).
HMRC will be able to issue Regulations to allow employers to include taxable benefits in pay and thus account for PAYE on the benefits. Employers will therefore not have to include these items on forms P11D.
The statutory exemption for reimbursed expenses will mean that all employees will automatically get the tax relief they are due on qualifying expenses payments.
If an employer wants to pay a set rate to employees for certain expenses, the employer will be able to apply to HMRC for approval to pay or reimburse expenses of employees at a rate set out in the application. HMRC can agree (an approval notice) if they are happy that the payment is a reasonable estimate of the amount of expenses actually incurred.
Real Time Information (RTI) 'on or before' reporting:
The two year temporary relaxation, allowing existing micro-employers to report all payments they make in a tax month on or before the last payday in the tax month rather than on or before each and every payday, will end as planned on 5 April 2016.
This will align the treatment for existing micro-employers with all other employers.

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