§ Mrs. LawrenceTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will provide details of what employers need to do to prepare for the extension of employers' National Insurance contributions to all taxable benefits in kind from April 2000, as announced in the Budget of March 1999. [99264]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe extension of Class 1A NICs has been structured around the existing tax reporting system to minimise any extra work for employers. Employers will, for Class 1A purposes, use the valuation figures for benefits that they already put on each employee's P11D form for tax purposes. The Pl1D will be clearly marked to make it obvious which figures to use to calculate the Class 1A liability.
The first reports on, and payments of, the extended Class 1A contributions will be due in July 2001. Full guidance on how the new arrangements will work in practice will be made available to employers shortly.
In addition, to reflect developments in modern working practices and reduce reporting requirements on employers, the Government will be exempting a number of benefits from both tax and NICs. The benefits to be exempted are:
small amounts of private use by an employee of items provided by the employer for the employee's work;qualifying beneficial loans; andgeneral welfare counselling provided by an employer.The Inland Revenue are also making it clear that an extra-statutory concession, which exempts the benefit of subsidised meals provided to employees in certain circumstances, applies to light refreshments as well.