HMRC have published further clarification regarding who can, or cannot, claim the new £2,000 a year NIC Employment Allowance. Extracts from the update are set out below:
Public authorities
Public authorities (such as local authorities, town councils and parish councils) are not eligible for the Employment Allowance unless they have charitable status.
Pharmacies
Independent pharmacies conducting a business, including over the counter sales as well as dispensing NHS prescriptions, are entitled to claim the Employment Allowance.
Educational Institutions
Schools, academies, further education colleges and universities are entitled to claim the Employment Allowance if they are private businesses or charities. This includes local authority or central government funded institutions provided they have charitable status.
If your charity is connected to another charity, then there will be entitlement to just one allowance for all of the connected charities. So, an education trust which controls several academies with charitable status will be entitled to just one allowance and it will be up to them to decide which academy makes the claim.
Domestic staff
Employers of domestic staff will be unable to claim the Employment Allowance as the employees are all being employed in a personal capacity to support the running of a household.
Franchises
Where a person operates a franchise, the employer (franchise holder) will be entitled to the Employment Allowance. However, if the franchise holder controls more than one franchise of a business, there will only be entitlement to one Employment Allowance for all of the franchises of the business controlled by that franchise holder.
Self employed
Can the self-employed claim the Employment Allowance? Yes, but only if you have employees and your business pays employer Class 1 NICs on your employees’ earnings.