HMRC have released the August 2023 Employer Bulletin. As always there is useful information included within the Bulletin and it’s no exception this time with a handy section on the different ways an employee receives tax relief on their pension contributions.

There are two methods tax relief is achieved:

• Relief at source

• Net pay

It’s vital the right method is applied within the payroll to ensure the correct amount of tax relief is achieved. It’s also useful for an employer to understand the difference between the two methods as this might play an important factor in choosing which pension provider to use for workplace pensions.

Employees who are part of a relief at source scheme might also not understand why they are only contributing 80% of their total employee contribution when they look at their payslip. This is again why it’s useful to understand the difference between the two different methods so it can be explained to the employee.

The Bulletin also covers areas such a National Minimum Wage, anti-money laundering and taking on new employees.

If you have any questions about payroll or the services we provide please contact us.

We have a new position available here at Alderley Payroll Services for a payroll administrator.

Tasks will include processing standard and variable input payrolls, dealing with queries such as tax, NI, auto enrolment and general payroll questions. You need to be confident using Excel and Outlook and have a good understanding of Windows.   We offer a range of benefits which includes hybrid working, casual dress code and no weekend working.   If interested, please email adam.lloyd@alderleypayroll.co.uk with your CV or apply through Indeed.

We are coming up to halfway through the tax year already! Thankfully unlike last tax year we so far haven’t had several NI changes which makes a life a little easier for everyone involved. Though its clear life isn’t easy for a lot of small and medium sized businesses who are having to deal with increased costs for most things. Here at Alderley Payroll Services we might not be able to help with rising inflation, but we can help with your payroll and workplace pension requirements.

We specialize in providing payroll services to small and medium sized businesses, including the management and administration of workplace pensions. We also work with accountants, providing outsourced payroll services at a very competitive price.

Do you require payments to be made on behalf of your business to employees and HMRC? If you do, we have this covered. In partnership with Modulr we can ensure a smooth and safe process to ensure payments are made on time, every time.

It’s important that we can provide a tailored payroll service, not a one-size fits all. We understand a cloud service isn’t for every business, but we do offer it for the businesses that do want it! The cloud service provides individual logins for all employee to a dashboard where they can view all their payslips, along with pension letters and P60s. You, as the employer also has access to a company dashboard where you can view a wide range of reports.

If you have any questions about the payroll services we provide please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

The Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) (No. 2) Bill has passed the second reading in the House of Lords and will now go on to the committee stage.  

The Bill looks to lower the age to 18 years old for automatic enrolment and abolish the Lower Earnings Level (LEL). Currently employees need to be between 22-SPA, earning over £10,00 per annum to be automatically enrolled.

The latest instalment of the HMRC Employer Bulletin has been released.

As always there is a wide range of topics covered with a very useful section on what reference to use when paying employers’ PAYE. I would also recommend the section on National Minimum Wage, which includes a link to further reading.

Any questions about payroll and PAYE feel free to get in touch via the contact page.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has backed proposals to extent Automatic Enrolment. The Private Members Bill permits the reduction in auto enrolment age from 22-18 and for the removal of the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL). There is no confirmation when these changes will happen, if at all, but this does give the Secretary of State the powers to amend Automatic Enrolment as per the proposals.

Currently for a worker to be classed as eligible and therefore automatically enrolled, they need to be aged between 22-SPA earning over £833/mth.

HMRC have released their latest issue of the Agent Update.

You don’t need to be an agent to read this as there is lots of useful information and updates included.

A selection of the subjects covered in this issue are as follows:

• Income Record Viewer
• End of year reporting for employers
• Student and Postgraduate threshold rates for the 2023/24 tax year
• Updating designatory details with HMRC

HMRC has released its latest addition of the Employer Bulletin…edition 100!

As always, a large range of areas are covered in the bulletin especially as we creep closer to the 2023/24 tax year! Details of the NMW & NLW for the next tax year is included along with the student and postgraduate loan thresholds.

There is also important information on the issuing of P9 coding notices to employers for the upcoming tax year.

Payrolling expenses and benefits

If you want to payroll any expenses and benefits in the 2023/24 tax year, and these haven’t been processed through the payroll before, they will need to be registered with HMRX before the 6^th April 2023.

Payrolling expenses and benefits means you will no longer need to submit a P11D , though a P11D(b) will still need filing. Also, any expenses and benefits not put through the payroll will still need reporting on a P11D.

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) rate increases for 2023/24 have been announced.

The largest nominal percentage increase is for the 21–22-year-old wage bracket, with a 10.9% increase taking the new hourly rate up to £10.18/hr.

	Rate
23 and over	£10.42
21-22	£10.18
18-20	£7.49
Under 18	£5.28
Apprentice	£5.28

As part of the February 2023 Employer Bulletin HMRC mentions several common causes for underpayment of the NMW & NLW.

The DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) has released the proposed automatic enrolment thresholds for 2023/24, along with the enrolment trigger. As you will see form the table below, these are to remain the same as the 2022/23 tax year.

		Trigger	Lower qual earnings band	Upper qual earnings band
2022/23		£10,000	£6,240	£50,270
2023/24		£10,000	£6,240	£50,270

In the review published by the DWP on 26^th January 2023, they outline the reasons for the freeze.