Claiming the employment allowance
In April 2016, the eligibility to claim the employment allowance was removed from limited companies with a single director and no other employees. This measure was put in place to ensure that companies with a single director and no employees do not benefit from an allowance designed to help small businesses take on additional staff.
We wanted to remind anyone still receiving the employment allowance, that is no longer entitled to do so, should ensure that they stop claiming the allowance. This can be done by selecting ‘No’ in the ‘Employment Allowance indicator’ field when submitting an Employment Payment Summary (EPS) to HMRC. HMRC can charge interest and penalties on any overpaid employment allowance and is likely to take a stronger stance in enforcing this over the coming months.
There are a number of excluded employers who cannot claim the employment allowance. For example, persons employed for personal, household or domestic work, such as a nanny or au pair and employment that is either wholly or mainly of a public nature. No allowance is available for deemed payments of employment income.
The employment allowance (currently £3,000 per year) is available to most businesses and charities to be offset against their employers Class 1 NIC bill. The allowance can be claimed as part of the normal payroll process. An employer can claim less than the maximum if this will cover their total Class 1 NIC bill. Eligible employers that have not yet done so can still claim for the current 2016-17 tax year (as well as make a backdated claim for one further tax year).