The ATT has urged the UK government to extend the exemptions from income tax and NICs for employer-funded covid-19 testing until at least 5 April 2022 given the ongoing pandemic and the ‘real public benefit’ in encouraging employers to support such testing. Without an extension to the exemptions, an employer who pays for an employee to be tested after 5 April 2021 would be creating an income tax bill for their employee. In addition, there will be NICs consequences for the employer and potentially the employee. In its Budget representation (for the March 2021 Budget), the ATT goes further: ‘A more comprehensive solution might be to have a primary legislation exemption for such employer-provided (or employer-funded) testing in respect of defined highly transmissible diseases. The relevant diseases (and the duration of the exemption in any particular situation) could then be defined by secondary legislation.’
The ATT has urged the UK government to extend the exemptions from income tax and NICs for employer-funded covid-19 testing until at least 5 April 2022 given the ongoing pandemic and the ‘real public benefit’ in encouraging employers to support such testing. Without an extension to the exemptions, an employer who pays for an employee to be tested after 5 April 2021 would be creating an income tax bill for their employee. In addition, there will be NICs consequences for the employer and potentially the employee. In its Budget representation (for the March 2021 Budget), the ATT goes further: ‘A more comprehensive solution might be to have a primary legislation exemption for such employer-provided (or employer-funded) testing in respect of defined highly transmissible diseases. The relevant diseases (and the duration of the exemption in any particular situation) could then be defined by secondary legislation.’
