2021 No. 242
Social Security

The Social Security Contributions (Disregarded Payments) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021

Made
Laid before Parliament
Coming into force
The Treasury make the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 3(2)(b) and (3) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 19921, and section 3(2)(b) and (3) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 19922.
The Secretary of State and the Department for Communities3 concur in the making of these Regulations.

Citation, commencement and effect1.

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Social Security Contributions (Disregarded Payments) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021.

(2)

These Regulations come into force on 6th April 2021 and have effect for the tax year 2021-22.

Interpretation2.

In these Regulations—

“coronavirus” means severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2);

“coronavirus related home office expenses” means expenses incurred by the employed earner in respect of equipment where—

(a)

that equipment was obtained for the sole purpose of enabling the employed earner to work from home as a result of the coronavirus outbreak; and

(b)

the provision of the equipment would have been exempt from income tax under section 316 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 20034 if it had been provided directly to the employed earner by or on behalf of a secondary contributor5.

“coronavirus test” means a test which detects the presence of a viral antigen or viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) specific to coronavirus; and

“earnings-related contributions” means contributions payable under the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 or the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 in respect of earnings paid to or for the benefit of an earner in respect of an employed earner’s employment.

Payments to be disregarded in the calculation of earnings for the purposes of earnings-related contributions3.

(1)

A payment mentioned in paragraph (2) or paragraph (3) is to be disregarded in the calculation of earnings from an earner’s6 employment for the purposes of earnings-related contributions.

(2)

A payment that is an amount reimbursed to an employed earner in respect of coronavirus related home office expenses.

(3)

A payment that is made to an employed earner in respect of the cost of a coronavirus test taken, or to be taken, by that employed earner.

David Rutley
James Morris
Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

The Secretary of State concurs.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Justin Tomlinson
Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work
Department for Work and Pensions

The Department for Communities concurs.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Communities on 8th March 2021.

Anne McCleary
A senior officer of the Department for Communities
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations provide that amounts reimbursed to an employed earner in respect of expenses that the employed earner has incurred in obtaining office equipment to enable home working necessitated by the coronavirus outbreak will be disregarded when calculating the amount of earnings for the purposes of calculating any liability to pay primary and secondary Class 1 contributions (“NICs”).

These Regulations also provide that amounts paid to an employed earner for the cost of a coronavirus antigen test will be disregarded when calculating the amount of earnings for the same purposes.

These Regulations come into force on 6th April 2021 and will take effect for payments and reimbursements made during the tax year 2021-22.

Tax Information and Impact Notes covering this instrument will be published on the gov.uk website at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tax-information-and-impact-notes-tiins.