There have been some major changes in payroll legislation over the past ten years and there are still employers that are not claiming everything they are entitled to.
When we take on new clients, we do an initial payroll audit and sometimes find this is still the case. Payroll is an often-overlooked function of the business, but if you don’t have a skilled payroll professional, it could be costly for both the employer and their employees.
Two examples
Employment Allowance
Most employers are eligible to claim up to £5k per year to reduce their National Insurance liability. The allowance is deducted from your Employer’s NI liability each month, until the £5k is used up.
There are a few exceptions, including large employers with over £100k combined employee & employer NI liability for the year. For connected companies, the allowance can only be claimed for one company and the total NI figure across the group must be less than £100k. If in doubt, speak to your accountant or payroll specialist.
It is worth mentioning that if this allowance has not been claimed, it can be backdated by up to 4 years. Over the past few years, we have claimed back thousands of pounds in unclaimed allowances for some of our clients.
Tax relief on pension contributions
Employees that are enrolled into a workplace pension scheme are entitled to 20% tax relief on their employee contributions. However, if this has not been set up correctly, employees could be losing out. If in any doubt, check with your pension or payroll provider to make sure that the pension scheme is either set up as ‘tax relief at source’ or a ‘Net pay arrangement’ scheme.
About Cornwall Payroll
We are an experienced team of Payroll professionals based in Truro. We offer a friendly, cost-effective service to all sectors of business across Cornwall. We hold CIPP accreditation after passing their Payroll Assurance Scheme once again.
For more information on our services, please contact [email protected] or call us on 01872 306412
