| The weather is improving and Spring is getting into gear, so naturally, the Hazlewoods Tax Department’s thoughts have turned to the reporting of employee benefits. Benefits provided to employees are reportable to HMRC on forms P11D by 6 July following the year end. This can prove a complex and time consuming administration burden. In order tTo make it a bit easier we have drafted a list of some of the most common mistakes made on forms P11D:
- Using a paper form for the wrong tax year. Check your forms all refer to 2013/14
- Neglecting to tick the ‘director’ box if the employee is a director
- Reporting only the private use portion where a benefit has been provided for mixed business and private use. Instead, the full amount should be shown and a separate s336 claim filed for the business element and the full gross value (ie VAT inclusive) of the benefit should be reported
- Not completing the fuel benefit section where petrol or diesel has been provided for the employee’s private use
- Submitting the information twice, once electronically and once by post
- Not including descriptions where they are required
- Leaving the ‘cash equivalent’ box empty where a figure has been entered in the corresponding ’cost to you’ box
- Completing the ‘from’ and ‘to’ date boxes in the car benefit section where a car was actually available all year. If the car was available to the employee during the previous year, for the whole tax year and into the next year these boxes should both be left blank
- Putting the incorrect price in to calculate car benefits. The value should be the manufacturer’s list price rather than the amount actually paid e.g. if you received a 10% discount on the purchase the P11D value is the price before the discount. You should also add the cost of any additional accessories to the value
Finally, remember that this year the 6 July deadline is a Sunday, effectively shortening the deadline to Friday 4 July 2014. If you would like our assistance in preparing your P11Ds, please get in touch with your usual Hazlewoods contact. |