Employing people in the UK carries with it a host of real time PAYE tax compliance and reporting obligations, as well as liability to National Insurance contributions. It is a considerable and time-consuming responsibility requiring a sound knowledge of complex payroll, taxation and employment legislation. Great care is required to ensure that requirements are met. We have a dedicated payroll team which can undertake this work for you and give you peace of mind.

 

In particular, we can administer PAYE schemes and deal with parental leave, sick pay, Apprenticeship Levy and student loan repayment. Depending on your preference, we can arrange payments to your staff through a client account, as well as payments of tax and National Insurance to HMRC. We can deal with benefits and expenses reporting and advise on bonuses, ex-gratia payments and termination packages. We can also provide support with HMRC PAYE audits. This is all relatively routine, but it needs to be dealt with accurately and with efficiency.

 

Beyond this basic but essential offering, another area where we have considerable experience is with employee share schemes. Many of our entrepreneurial clients look to retain key employees through share incentives and we are able to advise on the options available in each situation and design and implement share schemes which align with their business strategy and objectives. This would include the agreement of share valuations with HMRC, where needed. We can also review, monitor and revise existing share plans to improve the commercial and tax effects in response to changes in business profile and legislation.

 

Many of the Firm’s clients are entrepreneurs with businesses which employ people. Some of our clients have an international profile and move between countries frequently, or have employees who are internationally mobile. It is therefore important that we can deal with secondments overseas and into the UK, with all of the attendant consequences. We have a specialist tax team which advises in this area, with a particular emphasis on residence status, tax equalisation arrangements, overseas workday relief and ensuring that remuneration, including share incentives such as restricted stock units, is correctly allocated to different work periods so that the same remuneration is not taxed in two countries. We can advise on and put into operation reliefs against PAYE earnings where a portion of income is protected by a tax treaty or is only taxable on the remittance basis. It is also essential to ensure that an employee is not subject to the social security regime of more than one country. All of this is complex and requires familiarity with the operation of Double Taxation Agreements and social security agreements, so that the timing of any relief or exemptions due can be accelerated.

 

Keeping on top of all of the challenges which employers and their employees face can be a daunting task, but our specialists have the skills and experience necessary to provide clear advice and professional support in these areas.