The business rates system taxes the value of properties used for business, providing a stable source of government revenue to support essential local services like social care.

However, property-intensive sectors bear a larger share of the tax burden, which disincentivises high street investment and provides fewer opportunities for local communities.

The Labour government is planning to reform business rates over the next few years to help high street businesses and give this area of economic activity a much-needed boost.

While business rates relief has been extended for the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors, with the current discount dropping from 75% to 40% next year, many businesses in England could see their business rates bill almost double in 2025–2026.

So, what are the government’s plans to reform business rates and tax reliefs, and how is this supposed to help English businesses? Learn more about the incoming changes below.

Business rates in 2025–2026

Retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties that don’t qualify for small business rate relief (for property values below £15,000) receive a discount of 75% on up to £110,000 per business.

While this will continue in the 2025–2026 tax year, the discount will be cut to 40%. Properties usually qualify for this business rates relief if the business is primarily a shop, restaurant, café, bar, pub, cinema, music venue, gym, spa, or hotel.

While businesses will be relieved that the discount isn’t stopping altogether, they will no doubt still be disappointed by the significant decrease.

A business rates bill is calculated by multiplying the property’s rateable value by a multiplier. The government intends to protect smaller properties by freezing the small business multiplier (for property values below £51,000) at 49.9p, helping over a million businesses.

By continuing to provide a business rates discount instead of removing it altogether on 31st March 2025, as planned by the previous government, this will save the average pub with a rateable property value of £16,800 more than £3,300 in 2025.

However, the standard multiplier (for property values of £51,000 and above) will be uprated from 54.6p to 55.5p, which will likely disappoint businesses in this bracket.

Business rates in 2026–2027

As announced in the Autumn Budget, the government will take steps to implement a fairer business rates system by introducing permanently lower multipliers for RHL properties with rateable values below £500,000 from April 2026.

This permanent reduction will be sustainably funded by implementing a higher multiplier for RHL properties with rateable values of £500,000 and above, which includes most large distribution warehouses used by giant online retailers.

The rates for the new multipliers are currently unknown but will be set in next year’s Autumn Budget, following revaluations and consultations with businesses and stakeholders.

The government will be consulting on other potential reforms, too, such as areas where ‘cliff edges’ in the system disincentivise businesses in England from expanding.

There are no details so far of discounts for business properties in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, though RHL properties in Wales benefit from a 40% discount at present.

Details of the business rates reliefs in England are explained on the government website.

If you are a small to medium business owner with concerns about how these changes could affect your property taxes, our accountants in Barnsley can provide professional advice.

To find out how gbac can help you with business tax reliefs, contact our team by calling 01226 298 298, or send an email to info@gbac.co.uk and we will be back in touch soon.

As the first Budget from the new Labour government, which has been vocal about the difficulty of filling a ‘fiscal black hole’ left by the previous Conservative government, the October 2024 Budget introduced some tough changes for employers.

The cost of employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) will see a significant increase in April 2025, alongside increases to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage intended to combat inflation outstripping wage rises.

So, if you’re a UK employer, what can you expect and how might this affect your business?

Employer NICs going up

From 6th April 2025, the employer NIC rate will go up from 13.8% to 15%, with the annual starting threshold dropping from £9,100 to £5,100.

As an example, if an employee is earning £50,000 a year, the cost of employer NICs will be just over £1,100 higher for the 2025–2026 tax year.

The 15% rate will also affect employers providing taxable benefits (e.g. medical cover) to employees.

The lower £5,000 threshold will remain in place for 3 years until 5th April 2028, impacting employers who hire large numbers of lower earners.

However, the employment allowance that enables employers to reduce their NIC liability is increasing from £5,000 to £10,500, which is good news for smaller employers.

The current restriction of withdrawing this allowance if the employer’s NICs were over £100,000 in the previous year will also be removed.

An employer can hire up to four full-time workers earning the National Living Wage without an NIC cost, but any employers hiring more staff than this will be cautious with recruitment.

National Minimum/Living Wage rises

Following high increases to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage in 2024, these hourly rates will increase substantially from 1st April 2025:

• Employees aged 21 years old and above will receive a 7% boost to £12.21 an hour
• Workers between 18 and 21 years old will receive a 3% increase to £10 an hour
• Apprentices and staff under 18 years old will receive an 18% increase to £7.55 an hour

Younger workers will benefit the most, with the increase equating to £1,400 a year for a full-time employee aged 21 or over and over £2,500 a year for an 18 to 20 year old.

Employees will obviously welcome this uplift, but for many employers, the additional cost will be a struggle – especially for businesses in the hospitality sector.

Employees will welcome the uplift, but many employers will struggle with the additional cost; especially those in the hospitality sector.

You can find out more about National Minimum Wage rates on the government website.

Need help with business accounts?

Are you a concerned employer worrying about how the rising costs of employer NICs and the National Minimum/Living Wage will affect your business in the next tax year and beyond?

At gbac, we don’t just offer payroll services to keep accounts, NICs, and pension contributions up to date. Our accountants in Barnsley also provide a range of financial services, including VAT bookkeeping and tax consultancy services to ensure you maximise your tax reliefs.

To learn more about how our accounting services could help your business adapt to changing regulations, get in touch by calling 01226 298 298 or emailing info@gbac.co.uk.

On 30th October, Chancellor Rachel Reeves presented a historic Autumn Budget to Parliament – the Labour Party’s first Budget in over 14 years and the first to be delivered by a woman.

The Chancellor said that this Budget will restore stability to public finances and rebuild public services, while the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) noted that it involves:

• Spending increasing by almost £70 billion a year for the next 5 years
• Taxation rising by around £36 billion a year
• Borrowing still remaining above £70 billion a year in 2029–2030

Roughly half of the spending increase will be funded by increasing taxes – mainly capital taxes and employer NICs – with the other half mostly funded by additional borrowing.

The Chancellor’s opportunities to raise taxes were limited by Labour’s manifesto pledges to not increase rates for Income Tax, VAT, Corporation Tax, or employee NICs for working people.

However, this means the burden of providing more funds for the Treasury falls on other taxes.

Employer NICs

The majority of the additional revenue will be raised through changes to employer NICs from 2025–2026. Employees have benefited from National Insurance Contribution cuts this year, but employers will have a less favourable deal from 6th April 2025.

From this date, the rate of Class 1 employer NICs will increase from 13.8% to 15%, and the threshold for paying them will fall from earnings of £9,100 a year to £5,000 a year.

This will be partially mitigated for some employers by the Employment Allowance increasing from £5,000 to £10,500, effectively acting as an employer NIC credit to reduce liability.

Capital Gains Tax

As of the announcement on 30th October 2024, the main rates for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) were increased with immediate effect. From this date, disposals of assets with profits exceeding the annual exempt amount of £3,000 will be subject to the following CGT rate rises:

• From 10% to 18% for non-taxpayers and basic rate taxpayers
• From 20% to 24% for higher rate and additional rate taxpayers
• From 20% to 24% for trustees and personal representatives

Meanwhile, the rates for Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR) and Investors’ Relief (IR) will increase from 10% to 14% from 6th April 2025, then to 18% from 6th April 2026.

The CGT rates that apply to carried interest (the share of profits above a certain level for investment fund managers) will also increase from 18% and 28% to a single 32% rate next year.

The current rates for residential property disposals will remain the same at 18% and 24%.

Inheritance Tax

Despite previous speculation, the government will not be abolishing Inheritance Tax (IHT). In fact, the current threshold freeze is set to continue for a further 2 years until April 2030.

While bands will remain the same for personal estates, there will be changes to IHT for Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) from April 2026.

Relief for business and agricultural assets will be capped at £1 million with a new IHT rate of 20% charged above that. Relief for qualifying shares on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), which do not benefit from the APR/BRP allowance, will be halved to 50%.

There were many suggestions for pension tax relief reforms, but the only change is that IHT will apply to pension wealth from 6th April 2027. Unused pension funds and benefits that are transferable at death will be considered part of the deceased’s estate for IHT purposes.

This means that pension scheme administrators will be liable for reporting unused pension funds and death benefits to HMRC and paying any Inheritance Tax due.

Are you prepared for UK tax changes?

If any of these tax changes are likely to affect you, or any other policies set out by the Budget that haven’t been mentioned in this tax overview, be sure to seek professional advice to help you prepare for the new tax environment as swiftly as possible.

Some tax changes will take effect sooner and others in a couple of years’ time, so it’s essential to assess your current circumstances for short-term effects and also get a long-term plan in order.

If you need help adjusting your savings, investments, and tax plans under the new and incoming policies, why not contact our insightful team of accountants in Barnsley?

Here at gbac, we provide a variety of financial services that could help you optimise your tax reliefs while complying with HMRC. To learn more, get in touch by calling 01226 298 298, or send an email to info@gbac.co.uk and we will get back to you promptly with more information.

Under current rules in England and Wales, private landlords cannot legally rent out their property without an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) with a minimum rating of E, while social landlords are not subject to any minimum energy efficiency standard.

Previously, the Conservative government had proposed making it mandatory to achieve a minimum EPC rating of C by 2025 for new tenancies and 2028 for existing ones, but this policy was scrapped a year ago due to concerns that upgrades would cost too much.

Now, the new Labour government is set to bring the EPC upgrade enforcement back, but with an extended deadline of 2030 for all rental properties to have a rating of at least C.

Around 1/3 of rental properties were constructed before 1919, many of which have solid walls, which will be difficult to bring up to the minimum energy efficiency rating – but without the compulsory upgrade, these properties cannot be legally let to tenants from 2030.

So, what does this mean for landlords right now, and is there any financial support available?

 

EPC grant conditions

New funding has been announced to help some landlords with older properties, but this will not be available for all landlords, as it depends on the property’s rating and location.

From April 2025, the government will make grants of up to £30,000 available for landlords to upgrade one property. This will be split into £15,000 caps each for upgrading energy efficiency to a C rating and installing low-carbon heating systems (such as solar panels or heat pumps).

For second or subsequent properties, the total grant will be capped at £15,000, with the landlord required to contribute at least the same amount themselves.

There currently is no limit for the number of properties that a landlord can claim grants for, but the maximum funding each landlord can claim is £315,000 altogether.

To qualify, a rental property must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Currently has an EPC rating between D to G
• Let to low-income tenants either receiving means-tested benefits or with an annual family income below £36,000 a year
• Located within an eligible postcode area with older housing stock

The latter is a kind of postcode lottery covering around half of postcodes in England and Wales, identified as more ‘deprived’ areas with many pre-1919 properties that are costlier to upgrade.

 

Required EPC upgrades

Whether you make use of the grants or fund energy efficiency improvements yourself, the government expects landlords in England and Wales to invest in the following upgrades:

• Energy performance – insulation, draughtproofing, double or triple glazing, smart controls
• Low carbon heating – heat pumps, high retention storage heaters, solar panels

More details about this scheme can be found in the Warm Homes: Local Grant guidance.

At the moment, landlords might prefer to wait for further clarification before taking action, as the government needs to consult on how assessments and exemptions will work.

After the grant scheme opens to expressions of interest on 1st April 2025, the government expects to operate it for at least 3–5 years, up until the 2030 deadline for EPC upgrades.

Some landlords may prefer to sell up rather than make significant financial investments in improving the energy efficiency of their properties, as this ‘capital expenditure’ is not tax deductible – meaning it cannot be written off as maintenance to reduce taxable profits.

However, while the upfront costs are considerable, an energy efficient property will not only be more attractive to tenants, but will also increase in value for whenever you decide to sell it.

If you are a landlord looking for financial advice to help you optimise your operating costs, from tax planning to managing Service Charge Accounts, we can help here at gbac.

To speak to our team of Barnsley accountants about our range of services, please call 01226 298 298. Alternatively, you can send an email to info@gbac.co.uk and we’ll get back to you.

With the UK government looking for ways to reduce tax fraud and increase tax collection, it is encouraging businesses to use electronic invoicing – also known as e-invoicing.

This is a digital format of creating, sending, receiving, and processing invoices, containing the same information as a traditional invoice, but with the potential to prevent invoice fraud.

Over half of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries mandate e-invoicing, but the UK is lagging by still allowing paper invoices.

Though details are currently scarce, the government intends to carry out a consultation into mandating e-invoicing, which could be incorporated into the Making Tax Digital rollout.

A decision on compulsory e-invoicing may be a while away, but in the meantime, business owners in the UK might want to get ahead and implement this voluntarily – read on to learn why.

What are the benefits of e-invoicing?

If you operate internationally or plan to expand beyond the UK, it’s likely that your business needs to use e-invoicing anyway. Even if you don’t, there are still many benefits to adopting a digital invoicing system before it becomes mandatory, which include the following:

• Faster processing of invoices with fewer errors thanks to a standardised format
• Real-time tracking to reduce the number of invoice disputes and rejections
• Avoiding duplicate invoices and preventing fraud through interception or amendment
• Improved cashflow forecasting with better management of capital requirements
• Taking advantage of prompt payment discounts due to faster payment of invoices

The speed and reliability of digital invoice processing can also strengthen relationships between buyers and suppliers, leading to higher customer satisfaction and retention.

Should your business implement e-invoicing?

If you work in the realm of B2B e-commerce, it’s never too early to get on board with e-invoicing.

In other countries that have mandated e-invoicing, the process of implementation typically involves a phased rollout over at least 3 years, with larger businesses complying first.

This is similar to the ongoing Making Tax Digital strategy in the UK, which is staggering sign-ups for different business sizes over several years to ease the transition.

It could take a couple of years or more for the government to conclude their consultation and put a plan in place for obligatory e-invoicing in the UK. However, instead of waiting until they have no choice in the matter, businesses should start preparing sooner rather than later.

Most businesses may not have the resources or budget to develop an e-invoicing solution of their own, but there are plenty of e-invoicing service providers available to choose from.

It’s important to choose the right provider that can fully meet your business needs both currently and in the future. If you need help with selecting or implementing digital invoicing for your business, you can always seek assistance from financial advisers, like the gbac team.

Give us a call on 01226 298 298 or send an email to info@gbac.co.uk and you’ll hear back from one of our accountants in Barnsley as soon as possible.

Despite the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) rate on residential property disposals decreasing by 4% this past spring, rising interest rates and the imminent scrapping of holiday let tax reliefs in 2025 led many buy-to-let landlords to sell their properties in 2024.

Speculators believe the new Labour government could increase CGT rates in the Autumn Budget, but this may not be the case, as the rise in residential property disposals by landlords selling up early to avoid higher CGT bills has already increased CGT receipts.

According to HMRC reports, from early April to the end of August this year, the tax agency collected almost 10% more CGT than the same period in the year before.

Compared to buy-to-let landlords, anyone with an investment portfolio has more flexibility in choosing the timing of disposals – but with the annual tax-free amount reduced to £3,000, what can you do to plan ahead for CGT in 2024–2025 and beyond?

How can investors reduce CGT?

Investors with larger portfolios can make the most of annual exemptions and basic rate tax bands with lower CGT rates by spreading out their asset disposals over several years.

It’s important to note that if you make personal pension contributions in the same year as disposing of an asset, this could increase your tax band and therefore the CGT rate.

Those who are married or in a civil partnership can also utilise the annual exempt amount and basic rate tax band of their spouse or partner, as one person can give or sell an asset to the other tax-free, and they will only be liable for CGT if they sell the asset themselves.

However, if CGT rates do increase in the next few years, this type of planning could quickly unravel. It’s important to stay on top of any CGT updates as soon as they’re announced.

Another risky option is to invest in a Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). Offering a CGT exemption of 50% on reinvested gains and the same amount in Income Tax relief, a landlord could benefit from up to 64% in tax relief through such a scheme.

This relief would increase in alignment with any future CGT uplifts, but these high-risk investments should not be undertaken without seeking proper advice.

In the long term, holders of large investment portfolios might have the opportunity to avoid tax liability in the UK by retiring overseas. This isn’t possible for landlords, though, as UK property will still be liable for CGT regardless of their residence status.

What’s the outlook for CGT?

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is due to share the Autumn Budget on 30th October, when the public will discover the government’s tax plans for the next few years.

In the meantime, HMRC’s CGT guide is available on the government website, which explains the current rules and thresholds that will apply until April 2025.

Still wondering what you should do with your savings and investments? If you want to get a head start adapting to any changes that the Labour government plans to implement, it could be worth seeking financial advice from consultants like our accountants in Barnsley.

If you would like to learn more about our tax consultancy services and how we can help you optimise allowances and exemptions, please call gbac on 01226 298 298 or email info@gbac.co.uk.

Last year, we posted about the National Audit Office (NAO) findings that more than a quarter of matured Child Trust Funds had still not been claimed by the summer of 2023.

Currently, in the autumn of 2024, HMRC has expressed concerns that around 670,000 accounts are still unclaimed by Gen Z adults who are now between 18 and 22 years old.

Under Gordon Brown’s Labour government, Child Trust Funds were set up for every child born between 1st September 2002 and 2nd January 2011. These were started off with a £250 voucher to encourage parents to build savings accounts for their children.

As almost 30% of Child Trust Funds were established without parental involvement and the scheme closed in 2011, it’s not surprising that there are still so many unclaimed accounts, with now-adult account holders unaware of their existence.

If you aren’t sure how to find out whether you have a Child Trust Fund, this blog explains how to claim your forgotten savings and what your options are.

How to find your Child Trust Fund

All CTFs are held by a bank, building society, or other savings provider. Some of these have exited the market or merged over the last 10+ years, which makes it more difficult to locate the new provider and track down where the funds have been transferred to.

If you are an eligible adult and you don’t know who your CTF provider was, you can contact The Share Foundation for help finding it or use HMRC’s ‘Find a Child Trust Fund’ tool.

You’ll need to provide information such as your name, date of birth, address, and National Insurance number, so they can trace the bank, building society, or investment company.

HMRC advises against using third-party agents who offer to track missing Child Trust Funds, as they charge a fee for this service that can be up to 25% of the account’s value.

With a reported average of £2,200 in each unclaimed Child Trust Fund, you’ll want to find yours and access your savings with as little interference as possible.

What can you do with a Child Trust Fund?

If you are at least 18 years old and have located your Child Trust Fund, you have the choice of withdrawing the money in the account or transferring it to an Individual Savings Account (ISA).

While accessing the funds immediately may be an attractive idea, if you don’t need the money immediately, it could be better for you in the long term to invest it into a savings account with a strong interest rate, such as a two or three-year fixed-rate cash ISA.

More information about this is available on the government website in HMRC’s Child Trust Fund guide, which explains how parents can manage the account for their children and how eligible children can access their CTF when they’re old enough.

If you need further assistance managing your savings and would like professional financial advice on trust funds, you can always contact our accountants in Barnsley.

Here at gbac, we help individuals, families, and businesses with all kinds of financial planning, so give us a call on 01226 298 298 or send an email to info@gbac.co.uk to get started.

According to the Labour Party, there is a ‘black hole’ in public finances left unaccounted for by the previous government to the tune of £22 billion.

This applies to the current financial year alone – and as the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is yet to publish the official figures, the total could be even bigger.

For Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, finding the money to cover this shortfall means making controversial decisions like cutting winter fuel payments for pensioners and potentially increasing taxes.

With the Autumn Budget due at the end of October, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said will be ‘painful’, there are plenty of suggestions from think tanks on how to raise the billions needed to fill the gap.

This includes a report from the Fabian Society – one of the original founders of the Labour Party – that suggests the government could raise £10 billion a year by reforming pension tax.

Read on to learn more about their proposals and how changes like this could affect you if the government decides to implement similar policies as part of the Budget.

What could pension tax relief reforms involve?

Pension contributions are mostly exempt from tax, meaning most workers will receive more in tax relief on their pension investments than they will be taxed on their pension income – especially high earners.

This is therefore a key area to introduce reforms in a Budget focused on raising revenue.

At the end of August 2024, the Fabian Society published a taxation report titled Expensive and Unequal: The case for reforming pension tax relief.

The report suggests changing tax reliefs on pension contributions by:

• Creating one flat tax relief rate for all tax bands, which would apply to both individual contributions and employer contributions.
• Increasing tax on pension lump sums, charging National Insurance on private pensions, and charging Inheritance Tax on pension assets.
• Consulting on National Insurance Contribution reforms for pension contributions, including both employee and employer NICs.
• Recycling savings made by these changes into increasing minimum employer contributions, developing an opt-out pension for self-employed workers, and providing pension credits for carers.

Together, these reforms could raise £10 billion annually – compared to the £1.5 million that means-testing winter fuel payments is expected to raise in 2025–2026.

The new system should be simple to follow, incentivising individual and employer pension contributions while keeping tax reliefs proportionate to earnings.

How would a flat rate of pension tax relief be beneficial?

The most significant part of the Fabian Society’s proposals is the idea of introducing a flat rate tax credit instead of Income Tax relief for pension contributions.

This plan was allegedly once considered by George Osborne, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer for the Conservative government between 2010 and 2016.

HMRC figures from the 2022–2023 tax year featured in the report highlight issues like only 1/3 of pension tax relief being offset by tax revenue from pension payments, and inequalities like the majority of tax relief on pension contributions going to higher earners, employers, and men.

Reducing the tax benefit for higher and additional rate taxpayers, who receive over half of pension contribution tax relief despite earning the most, will help to generate revenue for the Treasury.

As an example, a higher-rate taxpayer would currently contribute £60 to pay £100 into their pension with tax relief. Under the Fabian Society’s proposal, contributing £75 from net income would be topped up by a £25 tax credit instead to bring the total to £100 – like a Lifetime ISA.

It would benefit most taxpayers because it would reduce the net cost of their pension contributions.

Should you be making changes to your pension plans?

It’s likely that the Treasury was already considering most of the tax-raising ideas presented in this Fabian Society report, but we must wait until 30th October to find out whether the government will be introducing any pension tax relief reforms in the Autumn Budget.

Even if it turns out that these measures aren’t included in Labour’s plans to fill the ‘financial black hole’, it’s still worth noting they could happen in the future when considering topping up your private pension.

With the cost of retirement and State Pension age both rising, it’s essential to review your pension contributions and start planning for retirement to build your savings effectively.

If you need financial planning advice to help you optimise your retirement income without maximising your tax liability, why not speak to our Barnsley accountants?

Here at gbac, we provide a wide selection of accounting services, so call us on 01226 298 298 or email us at info@gbac.co.uk to learn how we can help you with efficient pension planning.

New legislation introduced this year makes it illegal for employers to withhold tips from their staff, overhauling gratuity practices to ensure that from 1st October 2024 workers can keep 100% of the money they have earned in the form of tips and service charges.

Primarily applying to businesses in the hospitality sector, the government expects this change to boost wages by giving around £200 million back to workers each year.

Paying tips is likely to cost both employers and employees through increased National Insurance Contributions (NICs), but employers can circumvent this by using a tronc arrangement.

Read on to learn more about the new tipping laws, troncs, and what your business can do to distribute tips fairly and stay on the right side of HMRC.

The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023

Following a consultation several years ago, which looked into the unfair distribution of tips due to employer malpractice that was highlighted by the media in 2016, the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 was given Royal Assent in May 2023.

This amends the Employment Rights Act 1996 with the introduction of Part 2B, which applies in England, Wales, and Scotland.

While the legislation, often referred to as the Tipping Act, was due to take effect in July 2024, delays caused by the general election meant the Act only came into force on 1st October 2024.

Employers must now pass all tips, service charges, and gratuities on to employees without deductions – for example, retaining a portion as an ‘administration fee’ is no longer allowed.

Cash tips given directly to a worker without involving the employer were already legally protected, but the new law covers cashless tips via card payment, too.

Employer obligations for distributing tips

Under this legislation and the Code of Practice on Fair and Transparent Distribution of Tips, which came into effect at the same time, employers must:

• Pass on tips to workers in full with no deductions (other than tax or NICs)
• Have a written tipping policy and keep a record of how tips were managed
• Provide information about their tipping record if a worker requests it
• Pay tips to workers within 1 calendar month of the customer paying the tip
• Not alter an employee’s hourly wage (tips don’t count towards minimum wage)
• Consider different roles, performance levels, seniority, and customer intention

This applies to hospitality businesses like cafés, restaurants, and bars, but also any business that accepts tips, such as hairdressers. The legislation covers all employed workers, including agency workers and those on zero-hour contracts.

The Act regulates the fair and transparent allocation of tips to staff, so if their employer retains their tips, workers can submit an employment tribunal claim against them. Employers found to have acted illegally could have to pay fines or compensation to workers.

Tips, Income Tax, and NICs

Tips are subject to Income Tax and employee NICs, typically through the PAYE system.

Customers giving cash tips directly to individual employees or leaving them on the table are subject to Income Tax, but not National Insurance, as PAYE doesn’t apply. In these cases, it’s the worker’s responsibility to report income from tips to HMRC via Self-Assessment.

In all cases of an employer forwarding tips to an employee, they must operate via PAYE, whether the employer makes the payment or delegates this task to an employee.

When it comes to NICs, gratuity payments paid to employees are exempt if:

• It isn’t allocated by the employer to the employee, whether directly or indirectly
• It isn’t directly or indirectly paid to the employee by the employer and doesn’t comprise of monies paid to the employer previously by customers

On most occasions, an employer passing tips on to an employee will be responsible for both employer and employee NICs, because neither condition is satisfied.

An 8% NIC rate applies when tips (added to normal earnings) reach between £1,048–£4,189 a month. When a threshold of £758 a month is reached, employers must pay NICs, but their liability is usually reduced by the £5,000 annual employment allowance.

As an example, if a restaurant pays £25,000 in tips, the employer could face nearly £3,500 in additional NIC costs, while the extra cost may be up to £2,000 for staff.

In situations like these, tronc arrangements can come into play to help reduce costs.

Troncs and troncmasters

A tronc is an arrangement or system used to divide tips, service charges, and gratuities to pay employees their share. A troncmaster is responsible for managing this.

If a troncmaster decides on tip distribution and not the employer, there are no employee or employer NICs due, but it’s still possible to include the tips on the employer’s payroll.

An employer can appoint the troncmaster, whether it’s a member of staff or a specialist provider, but they must play no part in the actual allocation of tips.

Tips will still be subject to Income Tax, but it will be the troncmaster’s responsibility to set up and run a separate PAYE scheme for this, which can be within the employer’s payroll but must be independent of the employer’s PAYE scheme.

The troncmaster must operate the scheme for tips, report the income to HMRC, and deduct tax accordingly, otherwise they will be held accountable for tax errors by HMRC.

If troncmasters need help with setting up or running a tronc and complying with PAYE requirements, they can consult the government guidance or contact financial advisers like the team at gbac.

What does this mean for your business?

Under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, if an employer breaks the rules, they could be taken to an employment tribunal and made to pay fines and compensation – so it’s essential for employers to stay on top of the changes introduced by this legislation.

Businesses that receive tips, service charges, and gratuities must review their tipping policies, allocation management, and record-keeping practices to ensure they are 100% compliant.

Changing these practices may have an impact on cash flow, but it should also contribute to higher rates of employee satisfaction and retention, saving on recruitment costs while also building trust between businesses and customers who want to tip employees.

It’s important to make sure all employees are on the right tax code, so any Income Tax or NICs due can be taken through PAYE. Using a tronc PAYE scheme can help with this.

If you have any concerns about adjusting your payroll services and keeping everything in order for HMRC to review, why not speak to our accountants in Barnsley?

At gbac, we offer a wide range of financial services, so if your business needs help managing tax liabilities on tips, then call us on 01226 298 298 or email info@gbac.co.uk.