There have been two changes to National Insurance that come into effect from 6th April that will affect golf clubs.
The first change sees an extra £1,000 per year reduction in Employers’ National Insurance for most businesses.
Since 6th April 2014 most golf clubs, as employers, have been able to claim the employment allowance of up to £2,000 a year. The reclaim is made by offsetting the allowance against their secondary National Insurance contributions by way of the Real Time Information (RTI) Employer Payment Summary (EPS).
The July 2015 Budget raised this £2,000 allowance to £3,000 from April 2016. Please check that your payroll software is correctly configured to claim this as, apparently, only 89% of eligible employers claimed the allowance in 2014/15.
Further guidance for employers on Employment Allowance is available from the gov.uk detailed guidance notes.
The second change concerns the removal of National Insurance for apprentices under the age of 25.
A new Apprentice NI code of H came into effect on 6th April 2016. This new code affects qualifying apprentices who are under 25 and will mean that the employee and employer pay no NI at all.
To qualify for the NI code letter H, the apprentice must be under 25 and must have an apprenticeship end date. Without an end date the apprentice cannot qualify for the code letter. When an individual does qualify the employer will not have to pay NI for the employee.
Further information on this change can be found from the gov.uk under 25s employer guide.
By GCMA
