PAYE update: Changes to short term business visitor agreement (STBVA)
Following the changes to the residency rules there have been amendments to the reporting requirements for any employers who second employees into the UK for the short term. Despite the short term nature of these placements there is still a requirement to operate PAYE on earnings from day one unless the business has a STBVA in place.
HMRC have withdrawn their previous, more relaxed approach, that allowed employers to assess for themselves whether or not the PAYE exemption was applicable.
With effect from the 13/14 tax year onwards, where an employee is expected to be working in the UK for a UK company, or a UK branch of an overseas company, the employer must have a signed agreement in place with HMRC by 31 May 2014 to be able to exempt these payments from PAYE.
For this first year of the new regime employers have until 31 May 2014 to both apply for the STBVA and submit the required report. Going forward the STVA must be in place by the end of the end of the relevant tax year and the required report must then be submitted by 31 May following the end of the relevant tax year.
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If you have any questions with regard to the STBVA requirements or its relevance to your business please contact Anne Eager (ae@rjp.co.uk).