The Salary Calculator

Updates to Job Support Scheme

by Admin

In light of the current situation with Covid-19, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has made a few changes to the Job Support Scheme, so the government is providing more support than they originally planned.

The minimum number of hours which have to be worked to qualify for the scheme has been reduced from 33% of normal hours to 20% of normal hours. The employer’s contribution has been reduced from 33% of the unworked hours to 5% of the unworked hours, and the government contribution has been increased to 62% of the unworked hours (from 33%). This more generous scheme makes a huge difference to small businesses who were worried they would be unable to meet the costs from 1st November. However, it does reduce the minimum amount an employee can be paid from 77% to 73% of their full salary (this is only the case if the number of hours worked is below 33%).

The Salary Calculator’s furlough calculator has been updated with these latest figures.

Tags: coronavirus, covid-19, Jobs, Pay As You Earn, The Salary Calculator, unemployment

New – Job Support Scheme added

by Admin

Note: An earlier version of this post contained old percentages – the post was updated (on 22nd October 2020) to reflect new percentages

From 1st November 2020, the furlough scheme introduced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak is being replaced by the Job Support Scheme. This scheme is designed to encourage employers to bring employees back to work part time if possible. The Salary Calculator has been updated to allow you to estimate what effect this will have on your take home pay.

If you work 20% or more of your normal full time hours, some of your “missing” pay for the hours not worked is subsidised by the government. Your employer will pay 5% of the unworked hours, the government will pay 62% of the unworked hours, and the remaining third of unworked hours is unpaid. This does require your employer to pay you for work you are not doing, but the plan is to help people get back to work rather than losing their jobs. If you work a third of your hours, you will receive 77% of your normal pay – slightly below the 80% offered by the furlough scheme. The government contribution is capped at £1,541.75 per month.

To see what effect this might have on your take home pay, check out the Pro Rata Salary Calculator – you can either enter reduced weekly hours, or a percentage of your full time hours – just remember to tick the “Job Support Scheme” box to see what a difference it will make.

Tags: coronavirus, covid-19, income tax, job support scheme, Jobs, national insurance, Pay As You Earn, The Salary Calculator, unemployment

What the SEISS extension means for you

by Admin

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In the early stages of lockdown, the government announced support for sole traders in the form of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, or SEISS.

Just a month after its announcement, 2 million claims were made, totalling £6.1 billion in government support. And now, with a second grant opening in August 2020, a number of sole traders are set to benefit from further financial assistance.

We’ve asked Mike Parkes from GoSimpleTax to explain the terms and help you claim.

How does SEISS work?

The scheme is available to all self-employed individuals that have been adversely affected by COVID-19. This is provided that they:

• Earn the majority of their income through self-employment
• Have average annual trading profits of less than £50,000
• Have filed a tax return for the 2018/19 tax year
• Have traded during the 2019/20 tax year and intend to continue trading in 2020/21

To determine whether or not you were affected by COVID-19, any of the following must apply:

• Government orders have meant that your trade or industry had to close or be restricted in such a way that your trade closed – or is otherwise adversely affected
• You cannot organise your work, or your workplace, to allow staff to work safely
• Your staff or customers are no longer able to purchase from you due to restrictions
• Social distancing has meant that you are not able to safely serve customers
• You’ve had contracts cancelled as a result of COVID-19
• You have either had to care for others since lockdown or have been self-isolating
  

The first grant ended on 13th July 2020, and claimants could receive either £7,500 or 80% of their average monthly profits over the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 tax years (whichever is the lower amount). Applications for the second grant will open on 17th August 2020, but you must have confirmed by 14th July 2020 that you have been adversely affected by COVID-19.

Why is there a phase two?

While the government set a three-month cap on the support, it has since been agreed that  COVID-19 is still impacting the earnings of some sole traders. As a result, it is necessary for them to receive another grant in order to stay afloat.

It will also help to support those who may not have initially been affected by lockdown (and so did not claim the first grant) but have subsequently suffered a loss of business.

What’s the difference? 

The differences between phase one and two are limited, although the second grant will be worth 70% of your average monthly trading profits. It’ll still be paid out in a single instalment that covers three months’ worth of profits, but will be capped at £6,750 total – almost £1,000 less than the phase one grant.

Additionally, you can only claim the second grant if your business was adversely affected on or after 14th July.

Can I continue working and still claim? 

Yes, you can continue to work as long as you intend to continue trading in 2020/21 in the self-employed role you’re claiming for. You can even take up other employment if necessary, provided that the SEISS payments still cover the majority of your income. HMRC will not penalise you for topping up your income with a little additional earnings to sustain your household.

Phase two will have a deadline of 19th October 2020. You can find out more about it on the GOV.UK site. If you are still losing out on income or opportunities to earn, we massively recommend you claim the second grant. This is unprecedented levels of government support and could make the difference between staying afloat or falling behind.

About GoSimpleTax

Right now, you can’t afford to be careless with your Self Assessment tax return. And with GoSimpleTax’s free trial, you don’t need to be. Their cloud-based software enables you to take stock of your earnings in real time, meaning you can get a complete overview of your tax obligations for the year. Once you’re certain all your affairs are in order, upgrade your account for just £46 and file your tax return with complete confidence.

Tags: coronavirus, covid-19, Economy, Employed and Self Employed, income tax, Jobs, self employed

Plans for re-starting the economy

by Admin

It has been a turbulent few months for many of us, with jobs being cut, furloughing schemes, working from home and closure of many businesses (small and large). Last week, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a number of measures which are designed to help us along the road to recovery. It is going to take several months (or even longer) and things may never quite be the same – but here are a few of the measures which have been announced:

A cut in VAT on hospitality – restaurants and hotels will see the VAT on their goods reduced from 20% to 5%. For consumers, it is possible that this will mean lower prices but businesses are under no obligation to pass this saving on. They may keep their prices the same and use the VAT saving to try to repair some of the damage caused by their enforced closure over the last few months, or to try to allow for fewer customers as social distancing regulations mean that they can’t seat as many people as before.

A temporary removal of stamp duty on house purchases under £500,000 – if you were planning to move house before March 2021, this may well save you a significant amount of money. Previously, any house sold for more than £125,000 attracted stamp duty (often thousands or tens of thousands of pounds) which the buyer had to pay on top of the purchase price. Until March of next year, the threshold has been increased to £500,000, in an attempt to encourage people to buy and re-energise the housing market.

A bonus paid to employers who retain furloughed employees – if an employer keeps an employee who was furloughed on the payroll until the end of January 2021, they will be eligible for a one-off £1000 bonus. This is to encourage employers to keep people on and prevent unemployment, even if business doesn’t pick up immediately now that lockdown has been loosened.

There were several schemes announced which are intended to encourage employers to employ 16-24 year olds.

A full run-down of the measures announced is available from the BBC.

Tags: budget, coronavirus, covid-19, Economy, house prices, houses, Jobs, recession, recovery, VAT

New pension options

by Admin

A while ago, I considered adding an option to the calculator allowing you to enter the amount in £ that you contribute each month, rather than the percentage. I thought this would be useful for people whose employers didn’t use their salary as the basis for the pension contributions but instead “pensionable pay” or something similar. I never got round to it because I thought it was too much of a niche and would make the calculator too confusing. However, the current Coronavirus situation with people being put on furlough made me realise that more people would be affected by this than usual, so I have added this option.

I had an email from a visitor to the site who said that his pension contributions in furlough were based on his full salary, not his reduced, furlough pay. As such, the percentage he was entering was giving the wrong deduction when applied to the reduced pay. To combat this, I have now added the option to switch from a percentage input to a £ input. Enter the amount you contribute, choose the pay period, select what kind of pension you have, and then the calculator will use this amount as your pension contribution. To make this even easier, on the Furlough Calculator you can enter the percentage as usual but tick the “Don’t reduce pension” option, in which case the calculator will automatically apply the pension contributions from your full salary to your reduced salary.

People who contribute to a personal pension (i.e., not through their employer) might also find it easier to use the £ amount option, as it may be easier than calculating the percentage.

Tags: coronavirus, covid-19, furlough, pension, Pensions, The Salary Calculator