Tax and National Insurance

Tax

As an employer we are obliged by law to deduct tax from your pay based on your tax code issued by the tax office. The University of Reading has no discretion over which Tax code to use, it can only act upon instructions from the HMRC.

You can update your personal tax information online with HMRC   https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account

If you do not have a P45 to submit please complete the Declaration of employment status which is sent with your contract.

The tax office for employees of the University is H M Inspector Taxes, Pay as you Earn, PO Box 4000, Cardiff CFI4 8HR, Telephone number 03002003300

Website: www.hmrc.gov.uk.
Please ensure, when contacting them, that you quote your National Insurance number and the University reference 581/U1.

P60

A P60 is an annual statement of your taxable earnings for the tax year and the amount of tax that was due and then deducted from your taxable earnings.

If you pay into a salary sacrifice arrangement or have tax relief on any deductions (pension or GAYE) your taxable pay is your salary after these have been deducted.

We are required by HMRC to issue a P60 to you by 31st May following the end of the tax year on 5th April. You will need to have been employed on the 5th April to receive one.

You should keep this document safe. It can be used to prove earnings for tax credits, benefits or even mortgages or to enable you to complete your tax return.

You are able to access your historial P60s, from 2006, as well as all future P60s on Employee Self Service. To view your P60 online please login to Self Service and click on Payroll and then Statement of Earnings.

P45

If you have left the University you will be paid on your normal pay day and your P45 will be emailed to you, You can set this up on ESS with a personal email of your choice.

National Insurance

National Insurance Changes

April 2022 sees the increase of National insurance contributions, you can find out more about the changes National Insurance: introduction: How much you pay - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

One of the consequences of the introduction of the new State Pension is that pension schemes which have chosen not to participate in the second tier of the State Pension (known as contracting out) no longer have this option. This includes USS, UREPF and TPS, but does not affect members in URPS.

Many UK pension schemes have previously "contracted out" of the second tier of the State Pension and as a consequence of the move to a single tier, this option is no longer available. One of the advantages of a pension scheme being contracted out has been the fact that the members of such a scheme (and their employer) have enjoyed paying a lower rate of National Insurance contributions (NI) than they would otherwise have paid. So this advantage will disappear from the beginning of the new tax year (6 April 2016,) and anyone who has been paying lower NI whilst a pension scheme member will see their NI contributions increase from their April salary payment onwards.

The rebate on employees' NI contributions has been 1.4% of pay eligible for NI deductions and 3.4% for the employer.

The change to National Insurance is a statutory change and so the University of Reading has no option other than to make the change to employees' NI contributions.

Who will this affect?

This change will affect many of our employees. As the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the University of Reading Employees' Pension Fund (UREPF) and the Teachers' pension Scheme (TPS) all currently have this contracted out status, any members of these schemes will pay higher NI from April 2016.

Members of the University of Reading Pension Scheme (URPS) are not affected, as the scheme was not eligible to be contracted out and so there is no change.

If you are not a member of any pension scheme at the University of Reading, you will also not be affected by the changes.

How do I know which scheme I am in?

If you are employed on a contract in Grades 1-5 (or equivalent) and joined a pension scheme on or after 1 August 2011, you will be a member of URPS and thus not affected by this change in NI. For employees in those grades who joined a scheme before 1 August 2011, you will be in UREPF and will be affected by the changes.

Staff in Grade 6 and above (or equivalent) who are scheme members will be in USS and will be impacted by the changes. It is worth noting that under the changes being made to the benefit structure of USS, your member contributions are also due to increase from 1 April 2016 and so, unfortunately, this increase will take place as the same time as the increase in NI.

Further information

Further information can be found in these Employee National Insurance Changes Q&A.