Employment Tax

Employment tax is where good employers get hurt on technicalities. Status decisions on contractors, the taxation of benefits, expense policies, salary sacrifice, termination packages, national minimum wage mechanics — each looks like an HR detail until HMRC's employer compliance team reviews it, applies the rules as written, and issues an assessment covering years of arrears with penalties on top.

Acumon's employment tax specialists get the treatment right before it becomes historic: advising on the decisions as you make them, reviewing the arrangements you already run, and defending positions when HMRC challenges them.

IR35 and Employment Status

Off-payroll working rules put the status decision — and the liability for getting it wrong — on medium and large engagers, while contractors through their own companies still carry IR35 risk on other engagements. We review engagements against the case law that actually decides status — substitution, control, mutuality of obligation — produce defensible status determinations with reasoned documentation, and design contractor engagement processes that survive an HMRC review rather than collapsing at the first status challenge.

Benefits, Expenses and PAYE Settlement Agreements

Every benefit an employee receives has a tax answer, and the answers are inconsistent by design: some go on P11Ds, some can be payrolled, some are exempt if conditions hold, and some — staff entertaining, minor gifts — are best swept into a PAYE Settlement Agreement where the employer pays the tax. We review what you actually provide, fix the treatment of each item, and set up PSAs where they save more administration than they cost.

Termination Payments and Salary Sacrifice

Termination packages mix elements taxed completely differently — the £30,000 exemption, post-employment notice pay rules, injury and disability carve-outs — and getting the split wrong turns a settlement into a dispute with HMRC as third participant. Salary sacrifice, meanwhile, still works for pensions and a shortlist of benefits but fails expensively where optional remuneration rules bite. We structure both correctly before signature, when structure is still possible.

Employer Compliance Reviews and NMW

HMRC employer compliance reviews examine exactly these areas, plus national minimum wage — where technical breaches from deductions, unpaid time and salary sacrifice hit employers who pay well above minimum rates, with 200% penalties and public naming. We audit arrangements before HMRC does, quantify exposures honestly, and where a review is already announced, manage the process and negotiate the settlement — several of our advisors have run these reviews from the other side of the table.

What You Get With Acumon

• IR35 and off-payroll status determinations with defensible documentation
• Contractor engagement processes designed to survive HMRC challenge
• Benefits and expenses treatment reviewed item by item
• PAYE Settlement Agreements set up and calculated annually
• Termination payments structured correctly before signature
• Salary sacrifice arrangements that still work under current rules
• National minimum wage technical compliance reviews
• Employer compliance reviews managed by ex-HMRC specialists

Why Acumon for Employment Tax?

• Many of the firm's qualified tax advisors previously worked for HMRC
• In-house Chartered Tax Advisor (CTA), qualified by the Chartered Institute of Taxation
• All 90 of the firm's professionals are based in the UK
• Case study result: reduced HMRC's and the client's initial estimated payroll liabilities by over 80%
• CIPP-qualified payroll team in-house — advice and payroll implementation in one firm

Get a Fixed-Fee Quote

Tell us what you need and we'll come back within one business day with a clear scope and a fixed price — no hourly-rate surprises. Call 020 8567 3451 or use the form and we'll be in touch.