The government has launched consultations on key changes to employee benefits and expenses.
The consultations, which began on 18 June, followed an announcement in the March 2014 Budget of measures designed to simplify the administration of employee benefits in kind (BiKs) and expenses. Separate consultations are being held on each of four proposals:
- abolishing the threshold for the taxation of BiKs for employees who earn less than £8,500 a year which would mean that all employees are treated in the same way in respect of tax on their BiKs, irrespective of how much they earn, and protection for employees who might be adversely affected by the change
- introducing a statutory exemption for trivial benefits – the consultation is seeking views on defining a “trivial” BiK and the structure of the exemption
- introducing a system of voluntary payrolling for BiKs instead of submitting forms P11D
- replacing the expenses dispensation regime with an exemption for paid and reimbursed expenses.
The government said that the proposals were designed to “deliver real simplifications that improve businesses’ and individual’s experience of the tax system”.
All the consultations run until 9 September.
