Earlier in the year four consultations were published following Osborne’s announcements in the 2014 Budget. Some of the results were announced as part of this Autumn Statement.
The first change is that a new statutory trivial benefit exemption will apply to benefits costing less than £50 from April 2015. The other confirmed revision is the removal of the current £8,500 ‘P9D’ category of employee. Currently, employees (who are not directors) earning below £8,500 do not pay tax on certain benefits. Instead, new exemptions are set to be introduced for carers and ministers of religion.
Provisions to be confirmed are the exemption of certain reimbursed expenses, which may remove the need for dispensations, and a system to support voluntary payrolling of benefits. We expect more details on these in the full consultation response documents within the next few weeks.