Do i HAVE to claim maternity pay?

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

I think your being a bit half hearted. Either say it's wrong to artificially increase salary during the relevant period to get higher SMP, or present an aggressive approach to increase salary and interpret rules in client's favour.

Its not an accountants job to make decisions for a client; everyones risk profile will vary, so the best any advisor can do is guide their client then take instructions.

Your scenario of aggressively increasing salary and then "making up" rules that benefit HMRC instead of your client seem neither one thing nor the other.

Not quite. IMV HMRCs employers guidance and manuals don't cover the annual earnings period scenario accurately, I was trying to explain why. If this was picked up by HMRC some HMRC staff may let it go, but I would expect a more switched on one to go back to the underlying SI and assess a SMP overpayment on that basis; I was trying to demonstrate why.

Anyway, I think we've done this to death now. I've got a essay to finish before the weekend.

Good luck what ever you do, Minstrel

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

Sorry, one last thing

In another context I ended up in SSCBA 1992 today, S166 for SMP says:

Rates of payment
(1)There shall be two rates of statutory maternity pay, in this Act referred to as “the higher rate” and “the lower rate”.
(2)The higher rate is a weekly rate equivalent to nine-tenths of a woman’s normal weekly earnings for the period of 8 weeks immediately preceding the 14th week before the expected week of confinement or the weekly rate prescribed under subsection (3) below, whichever is the higher.

Emphasis mine

Hopefully this explains a bit more where I was coming from - the normal weekly earnings requirement would seem to preclude a one off bonus no matter what HMRC guidance has to say; in reality I suspect that leads to a distinction between "normal" bonuses and "exceptional" bonuses (my terms). Any attempt to manipulate the 8 week period would be open to attack as "not normal"

[minstrel]

Sorry, one last thing

In another context I ended up in SSCBA 1992 today, S166 for SMP says:



Emphasis mine

Hopefully this explains a bit more where I was coming from - the normal weekly earnings requirement would seem to preclude a one off bonus no matter what HMRC guidance has to say; in reality I suspect that leads to a distinction between "normal" bonuses and "exceptional" bonuses (my terms). Any attempt to manipulate the 8 week period would be open to attack as "not normal"

Good point Jessica.

I definitely agree with you that paying a high bonus would be open to attack.