2016 - Travel & Subs & Pensions

[RajaStyle]

I asked my accountant the below;

I heard that that the budget this year states that I can no longer claim travel & subs expenses from April 2016 and will I have to do anything with pensions due to my wife the only employee (she is company secretary and I am the only Director) and new rules state companies have to arrange pensions even with 1 employee ?

Response

1. No travel & subs rules only apply to umbrella companies from April 2016 not ltd companies like yourself.
2. No need to worry about pensions, she is an office holder and as long as she does no more than that she is exempt

Is this advice correct ? any accountants on here also agree ?

Thanks

[SteelyDan]

Does your wife receive a salary?

[Kenny@MyAccountantFriend]

The travel and subs is currently in discussion and could impact ltd companies but at present only expected to be those caught by IR35.

Regarding the pension. If there are no employment contracts and you are both directors/secretaroes you would be exempt. I would however recommend checking with an IFA though for this point

[eek]

Regarding the expenses...

In the initial discussion document limited companies were not mentioned.
In the current consultation document the scope has been expanded to include limited companies to reflect the feedback Unions gave to the discussion document.

There is a survey http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...penses-up.html to gauge what impact these changes would have to limited company contractors. Can I ask you to spend 2 minutes and fill it in...

[northernladuk]

It would have been fair to assume this has come up for discussion in the last month so a quick search could have saved you some time. We've been at it hammer and tong for awhile now.

[RajaStyle]

Regarding the expenses...

In the initial discussion document limited companies were not mentioned.
In the current consultation document the scope has been expanded to include limited companies to reflect the feedback Unions gave to the discussion document.

There is a survey http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...penses-up.html to gauge what impact these changes would have to limited company contractors. Can I ask you to spend 2 minutes and fill it in...

done. Thanks All

[SteelyDan]

Regarding the pension. If there are no employment contracts and you are both directors/secretaroes you would be exempt. I would however recommend checking with an IFA though for this point

So what about 'implied' contracts, i.e. spouse receives salary for doing some work, but there is no formal contract in place? Is this sufficient to blow Auto Enrolment out the window with TPR?

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

So what about 'implied' contracts, i.e. spouse receives salary for doing some work, but there is no formal contract in place? Is this sufficient to blow Auto Enrolment out the window with TPR?

I asked my accountant the same thing. My wife is company secretary and receives a small (< £3k) salary for this and some basic admin.

My view was that she risked being seen as a worker and therefore in scope. My accountants view was that as she's an office holder and her salary is small that I shouldn't worry and should just opt out of the whole thing.

I'm not 100% confident but inclined to take my accountants advice.

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

I asked my accountant the same thing. My wife is company secretary and receives a small (< £3k) salary for this and some basic admin.

My view was that she risked being seen as a worker and therefore in scope. My accountants view was that as she's an office holder and her salary is small that I shouldn't worry and should just opt out of the whole thing.

I'm not 100% confident but inclined to take my accountants advice.

Concur with your accountants advice. The salary is quite small in the scheme of things, and there is no valid HMRC argument that cosec is anything other than officer.

[jamesbrown]

I asked my accountant the same thing. My wife is company secretary and receives a small (< £3k) salary for this and some basic admin.

My view was that she risked being seen as a worker and therefore in scope. My accountants view was that as she's an office holder and her salary is small that I shouldn't worry and should just opt out of the whole thing.

I'm not 100% confident but inclined to take my accountants advice.

Your accountant is correct, assuming you (Director) and your wife (Company Secretary) are the only two involved. Office holders are explicitly dealt with in the detailed guidance (see p.11 of the Detailed Guidance for Employers). Providing your wife doesn't not have a contract of service (express or implied) for other duties - in other words, providing she is not an employee as well as an office holder - she is not within scope.