Employment Allowance for small businesses explained

Employment Allowance is claimed as part of a
businesses’ HMRC payroll submissions. Since 2014, all eligible employers within
the UK have been able to reduce Class 1 NIC’s by claiming employment allowance
for their company. If claimed, employers are not required to pay the first
£4,000 of employer’s national insurance – a huge saving opportunity for any
small business!

Can I claim employment allowance for my business?

If you have never claimed Employment Allowance before,
the good news is you can apply retrospectively for the past 4 tax years, dating
back to the 2016/2017 tax year. Employment Allowance for these prior years was
£3,000 per year, although your small business might actually be entitled to as
much as £12,000 refund from HMRC, coupled with this year’s relief.

Most small businesses are eligible for Employment
Allowance, although there are some exemptions which business owners should be
aware of before applying:

Which small business types are exempt from Employment Allowance?

Class 1 liability over £100,000

• Any small businesses owners with a secondary
  employer’s Class 1 NIC liability of £100,000 or more in the prior tax year are
  not eligible for claiming Employment Allowance. It is advised that liability
  should be calculated by considering connected employers. Should all connected
  parties add up to £100,000 or more, no employers within this category would be
  eligible.

State aid

• As of 6^th April 2020, Employment
  Allowance is operated as “de minimis State aid”. This means that employers who
  already claim de minimis state aid are required to check that they have
  sufficient balance available to make an Employment Allowance claim. If you have
  received de minimis state aid, this is something which you should have been
  notified about. Should you believe that you have received de minimis state aid
  but were not notified, clarify this with your scheme’s administrator.
• Any small business which receives more than
  their sectors ceiling or if it would breach their ceiling should Employment
  Allowance be granted, then they would not be granted eligibility for Employment
  Allowance. The applicable ceiling for most small businesses is EUR 200,000. It
  is recommended that small businesses owners verify this over on the HMRC
  website.

Single company directors

• If a small business contains only one employee
  who is paid over the Secondary Threshold for Class 1 National Insurance
  contributions and if they happen to also be the company director, this business
  will not be eligible for Employment Allowance.
• Additionally, small businesses with just one
  employee will also not be eligible for Employment Allowance.

How to claim Employment Allowance for my small business?

The best way to apply employment allowance for your business
is to entrust this task to a professional accountancy firm. Based in Central
London, Venn Accounts are chartered accountants who specialise in providing
personalised accountancy services for small businesses and startups
respectively.

With an emphasis on going the extra mile for clients, Venn
Accounts provide an all-encompassing service that is tailor-made for the needs
of small businesses owners. Visit Venn
Accounts website to arrange a consultation for your business.