Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (c. 1)

Part 3 Employment income: earnings and benefits etc. treated as earnings

Chapter 11 Taxable benefits: exclusion of lower-paid employments from parts of benefits code

Introduction

216 Provisions not applicable to lower-paid employments

(1) The Chapters of the benefits code listed in subsection (4) do not apply to an employment in relation to a tax year if—

(a) it is lower-paid employment in relation to that year (see section 217), and

(b) condition A or B is met.

(2) Condition A is that the employee is not employed as a director of a company.

(3) Condition B is that the employee is employed as a director of a company but has no material interest in the company and either—

(a) the employment is as a full-time working director, or

(b) the company is non-profit-making or is established for charitable purposes only.

• “Non-profit-making” means that the company does not carry on a trade and its functions do not consist wholly or mainly in the holding of investments or other property.

(4) The Chapters referred to in subsection (1) are—

• Chapter 3 (taxable benefits: expenses payments);

• Chapter 6 (taxable benefits: cars, vans and related benefits);

• Chapter 7 (taxable benefits: loans);

• Chapter 8 (taxable benefits: notional loans in respect of acquisitions of shares);

• Chapter 9 (taxable benefits: disposals of shares for more than market value);

• Chapter 10 (taxable benefits: residual liability to charge).

(5) Subsection (1)—

(a) means that in any of those Chapters a reference to an employee does not include an employee whose employment is within the exclusion in that subsection, if the context is such that the reference is to an employee in relation to whom the Chapter applies, but

(b) does not restrict the meaning of references to employees in other contexts.

(6) Subsection (1) has effect subject to—

• section 188(2) (discharge of loan: where employment becomes lower-paid),

• section 195(3) (discharge of notional loan: where employment becomes lower-paid),

• section 199(4) (disposal for more than market value: where employment becomes lower-paid), and

• section 220 (employment in two or more related employments).