Scottish rate of income tax
The Scotland Act 2012 gives the Scottish Parliament the power to set income tax rates – The Scottish Rate of Income Tax (SRIT). This new tax rate will come into force in April 2016, and will continue to be administered by HMRC.
Scottish tax payers will still pay UK income tax, but the rates will be reduced by 10%, and the Scottish Parliament can set the SRIT annually starting from 0. The initial SRIT will be 10%, meaning a basic rate tax payer will still pay an overall rate of 20% on taxable earnings, the same as the rest of the UK. This was announced on the 16th December in the Draft Budget for 2016/17.
What this means for the 2016/17 tax year:
| UK Income Tax Rate | UK Reduced Rate | SRIT | Overall Income Tax Rate for Scotland |
| Basic Rate 20% | 10% | 10% | 20% |
| Higher Rate 40% | 30% | 10% | 40% |
| Additional Rate 45% | 35% | 10% | 45% |
This may change before April, as it is only in the draft budget, but this would seem unlikely for the first year.
How will it be applied?
SRIT will only be paid by Scottish taxpayers, and HMRC will make this assessment based upon an employee’s main residence. HMRC started sending letters to confirm addresses on the 2nd December 2015.
HMRC will issue tax codes for April 2016 that start with the letter ‘S’, which will flag the employee as a Scottish taxpayer.
Employers should not decide who is, and is not, eligible for SRIT, there is guidance available for employees that believe their tax code is incorrect.
What about Pensions?
For pensions with tax relief deducted at source, so the deduction is made from net pay, the pension companies have until April 2018 to have the IT systems in place to reclaim the tax at the correct rate, until then claims will continue to be at UK basic rate.
What will happen for Payroll Options Client?
This will have minimal impact on our clients; although there may be an increase in P6 & P9 tax notifications in the 2016/17 tax year. Outsourcing your payroll solution to Payroll Options means that we will look after applying the codes, and as HMRC have taken responsibility for determining a taxpayer’s status, there should be very little additional work for employers.
