Citation, commencement and effect

1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations 2016 and come into force on 19th December 2016.

(2) Regulations 3 to 9 have effect for tax year 2017-18 and subsequent tax years.

Amendment of the Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) Regulations 2003

2.  The Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) Regulations 2003(3) are amended as follows.

Amendment of regulation 61A

3.  In regulation 61A (interpretation), for the definition of "specified benefit" substitute-

""specified benefit" means any benefit treated as earnings under any of the following provisions of Part 3 of ITEPA(4) (employment income: earnings and benefits etc. treated as earnings)-

Amendment of regulation 61B

4.  In regulation 61B (PAYE: benefits in kind)-

(a)in paragraph (2)(b), for "61K and 61L" substitute "61K, 61L and 61LA", and

(b)in paragraph (3), for "61K or 61L" substitute or "61K, 61L or 61LA".

Amendment of regulation 61D

5.  In regulation 61D(3) (deduction and repayments of tax: general rule), for "61K and 61L" substitute "61K, 61L and 61LA".

Amendment of regulation 61G

6.  In the heading to regulation 61G (method of calculating the cash equivalent of employment-related benefits), before "employment-related benefits" insert "non-cash vouchers, credit-tokens and".

7.  In regulation 61G(1)-

(a)before "any" insert "a non-cash voucher, credit-token or", and

(b)for "section" substitute "sections 87, 94 or".

Amendment of regulation 61I

8.  In regulation 61I(2) (modification of the general rule: in-year adjustments: change to benefit during the year with effect from the date of change), in paragraph (a) of step 1 after "sections" insert "87, 94,".

Insertion of regulation 61LA

9.  After regulation 61L (modification of the general rule: failure to make good fuel benefit) insert-

"Modification of the general rule: failure to make good benefit of credit-token

61LA.-(1) This regulation applies where the specified benefit is a credit-token and the specified employee has not made all of the making good payments referred to in regulation 61G(2)(b) before 1st June following the end of the tax year ("tax year 1") in which the credit-token was used.

(2) Before making the first main relevant payment after 1st June in the following tax year ("the first main relevant payment in tax year 2") the authorised employer must take the following steps-

Step 1

Calculate the outstanding taxable amount of the benefit of the credit-token used in tax year 1 by-

(a)determining the cash equivalent of the benefit of the credit-token used in that tax year in accordance with section 94 ITEPA;

(b)subtracting from that amount the cash equivalent of the benefit of the credit-token used as determined under step 1 of regulation 61I(2) as modified by regulation 61J(3) during that tax year.

Step 2

Add the amount obtained from step 1 to the first main relevant payment in tax year 2 and apply step 5 of regulation 61D(1) to that amount.

(3) Where this regulation applies regulation 61G(2)(b) does not apply in respect of credit-tokens used in tax year 2."

Amendment of regulation 87

10.  In regulation 87(4) (interpretation)-

(a)at the beginning insert "In this regulation-", and

(b)for "Related" substitute "related".

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) Regulations 2003 ("the principal Regulations") which make provision for the assessment, charge, collection and recovery of income tax in respect of pay as you earn income ("PAYE income").

Chapter 3A (Benefits in Kind) of Part 3 of the principal Regulations, sets out a scheme to authorise employers to deduct tax from employees' pay in respect of certain benefits in kind that they provide to their employees through PAYE.

Regulations 3 to 8 amend regulations 61A, 61B, 61D, 61G and 61I of the principal Regulations so that an employer can payroll the benefit of non-cash vouchers received, and credit-tokens used, by employees from 6 April 2017 onwards. An employer cannot voluntarily payroll the benefit of non-cash vouchers and credit-tokens where those benefits are treated as payments of PAYE income under sections 694 and 695 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.

Regulation 9 inserts new regulation 61LA to deal with situations where the employee has not paid the full amount expected to make good the cost of the credit-token by 1 June following the end of the tax year.

Regulation 10 amends regulation 87 of the principal Regulations to correct a minor error.

A Tax Information and Impact Note covering this instrument was published on 16 March 2016 alongside the draft clauses and explanatory notes for the Finance Bill 2016 and are available on the website at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tax-information-and-impact-notes-tiins. It remains an accurate summary of the impacts that apply to this instrument.