MORE THAN 200 COMPANIES NAMED AND SHAMED FOR MINIMUM WAGE BREACHES

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Over 200 employers have been named by the government for failing to pay their lowest paid employees the minimum wage.

The 202 employers were found to have failed to pay their workers almost £5 million in a clear breach of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) law, leaving around 63,000 workers out of pocket.

Companies named and shamed range from major high street brands to small businesses and sole traders.

The businesses named have since paid back what they owe to their employees and have also been given financial penalties.

The employers named previously underpaid workers in the following ways:

  • 39% of employers deducted pay from workers’ wages
  • 39% of employers failed to pay workers correctly for their working time
  • 21% of employers paid the incorrect apprenticeship rate.

Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business, Kevin Hollinrake, said:

‘Paying the legal minimum wage is non-negotiable and all businesses, whatever their size, should know better than to short-change hard-working staff.

‘Most businesses do the right thing and look after their employees, but we’re sending a clear message to the minority who ignore the law: pay your staff properly or you’ll face the consequences.’

Internet link: GOV.UK

MTD EXPECTED TO COST £1 BILLION MORE THAN ORIGINALLY FORECAST

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A report published by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that HMRC’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative is expected to cost around £1 billion more than its initial £226 million budget, which was forecast in 2016.

MTD is intended to modernise the tax system for income tax self assessment, VAT and corporation tax. It requires taxpayers to keep records digitally and submit quarterly tax returns.

The NAO labelled HMRC’s initial timeframe for the implementation of MTD as ‘unrealistic’. It stated that bosses ‘failed to take the scale of the task into account’.

According to the NAO, HMRC’s ability to secure value for money from MTD now relies on exploring the options for reducing costs, resolving questions about design and rigorously managing delivery risks.

The NAO has recommended that HMRC prepares a separate business case for MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) so that those making decisions can better understand the costs, benefits and risks associated with the initiative. It has urged HMRC to include ‘greater clarity’ on how taxpayers will be affected.

Gareth Davies, Head of the NAO, said:

‘The repeated delays and rephasing of MTD have undermined the programme’s credibility and increased its costs. They put at risk the support of taxpayers and delivery partners, including those who are essential to the programme succeeding.

‘HMRC’s plan to digitalise the tax system has the potential to improve the system’s efficiency and effectiveness. It has made some recent progress on VAT but it has not yet tackled the most complex elements of the programme and significant delivery risks remain.’

Internet link: National Audit Office website

HMRC CLOSES SELF ASSESSMENT HELPLINE FOR THREE MONTHS

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HMRC is planning to close its self assessment tax helpline for three months over the summer to focus call centre resources on dealing with other problem calls.

All calls to the helpline will be redirected to digital services over the period to give HMRC time to deal with other more urgent phone enquiries.

The helpline will be closed for three months from Monday 12 June until Monday 4 September.

During this time HMRC said it will ‘trial directing self assessment queries from the helpline to the department’s digital services, including its online guidance, digital assistant and webchat’.

HMRC will increase the number of advisers available on webchat, the online service helpline and the extra support team helpline.

Angela MacDonald, Deputy CEO and Second Permanent Secretary at HMRC, said:

‘We continually review our services to see how they can best serve the public and we are taking steps to improve them.’

We are experienced in self assessment matters and dealing with HMRC. Please contact us if you have any queries.

Internet link: GOV.UK