Business News - July 2008

For many years, there have been requirements for employers to verify the identity of their workers in order to prevent illegal working. Penalties under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 were increased from 29 February 2008 and the Home Office UK Border Agency website has been updated to show a list of employers fined since the introduction of the revised penalties. The website which lists employers fined, by region, will be updated on a monthly basis.

As you may be aware there is a statutory system of tax and NIC free mileage rates for business journeys in an employee’s own vehicle. These mileage payments are known as ‘Authorised Mileage Allowance Payments’ (AMAP).

This year ‘Tax Freedom Day’ fell on June 2. The statistics make interesting reading in that the average UK taxpayer spends more than five months of the year working for the government as opposed to working for themselves.

An Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled in HMRC’s favour in the case of Annabel’s Restaurant and Nightclub. The case concerned the payment of tips through a ‘tronc’, which is an arrangement which sometimes operates in the restaurant industry. The ‘tronc’ which operates as a separate independent payroll, run by a ‘troncmaster’ is used by some restaurants as a means of distributing tips or service charges paid by customers. HMRC have argued successfully that where the tips are paid in this way they do not count towards national minimum wage (NMW) entitlement.