The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (S.R. 2009, No. 128) (“the principal Regulations”). The principal Regulations govern the repayment of income-contingent student loans paid to students under Articles 3(2) to (5) and 8(4) of the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998.

Regulation 4 amends regulation 28 of the principal Regulations which sets out the powers which HM Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”) may exercise for the purposes of establishing the amount of the repayment a borrower may be required to make under Part 3. Regulation 5 amends regulation 33 of the principal Regulations to remove references to sections 72 and 76 of the Taxes Management Act 1970.

Regulations 6 to 17, 21 and 22 amend Part 4 of the principal Regulations to deal with the way employers report information to HMRC when employees commence and cease employment and about payments of earnings made to employees and repayments deducted from those payments. They also make consequential changes to the provisions dealing with the amount of the repayments for which an employer must account to HMRC in respect of each income tax period and the information employees must receive when they cease employment.

Employers to whom the new reporting requirements apply are referred to in the amendments as Real Time Information employers. Regulations 6 and 7 contain the definitions of “Real Time Information employer” and “non-Real Time Information employer”.

Regulations 8 and 9 set out the information which a new employee must provide to an employer about any liability to repay any student loan. Regulations 10 to 16 set out the information a Real Time Information employer must send to HMRC. In particular, regulation 16 inserts new regulations 54A to 54F into the principal Regulations which set out the new reporting obligations. Regulation 54B requires Real Time Information employers to provide information to HMRC each time a payment is made to an employee and for this to be done using an approved method of electronic communications. Regulation 54E contains exceptions from the obligation in regulation 54B for certain employers. It allows those employers to report to HMRC at the end of each income tax period and does not require the reporting to be done using an approved method of electronic communications.

Regulation 17 provides that the requirement on employers to state within the P45 that an employee is a borrower also applies to Real Time Information employers.

Regulations 18 and 20 amend regulations 66 and 71 of the principal Regulations to ensure that, for consistency purposes, repayment thresholds for overseas countries will be determined by reference to World Bank data only.

Regulation 19 omits regulation 70(3) of the principal Regulations as it is no longer possible for repayments to be collected in twelve equal instalments.

A Tax Information and Impact Note covering this instrument will be published on the HMRC website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/thelibrary/tiins.htm. The Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside the instrument at www.legislation.gov.uk.