Background Note
8.At Budget 2014 the Chancellor announced a number of measures aimed at simplifying the administration of employee BiKs and expenses. This followed the Office of Tax Simplification’s (OTS) review of employee BiKs and expenses.
9.The package of four measures consisted of the following:
Abolishing the threshold for the taxation of BiKs for employees who earn at a rate of less than £8,500 a year (‘lower paid’ employments), with action to mitigate the effects on vulnerable groups disadvantaged by the reforms;
Introducing a statutory exemption for trivial BiKs;
Introducing a system of collecting income tax in real time through ‘payrolling’ of BiKs; and
Replacing the expenses dispensation regime with an exemption for paid and reimbursed expenses.
10.This new exemption is being introduced to mitigate for a particular group of people the effects of the abolition of the £8,500 threshold for BiKs and expenses that is being introduced at the same time.
11.This exemption applies to income tax for board and/or lodging provided on a reasonable scale to an employed carer in the home of the person that they are caring for.
12.The exemption will also apply to National Insurance contributions due on the value of the BiK of board and/or lodging, which the person providing the BiK of board and/or lodging (usually the person being cared for) would otherwise have to pay.
13.This is to ensure that those persons who are in need of care are not involved in additional employer related administration or costs that may arise from the abolition of the threshold.
14.These changes will be introduced for the 2016-17 and subsequent tax years.
