Termination awards and sporting testimonials

HMRC has published an initial equality impact assessment of the changes to the NICs treatment of termination payments and sporting testimonials introduced in April 2020. The impact assessment notes that employers are particularly affected by the changes, being required to pay Class 1A NICs on the part of termination payments and sporting testimonial payments that exceeds the relevant thresholds, with implications also for sporting testimonial committees, software providers and agents and employees.

The assessment considers the impacts on all the Equality Act 2010 protected characteristics, highlighting the following—

–        HMRC systems can present accessibility issues, particularly for people who use screen readers to access digital content. Mitigations include making sure guidance and forms are available in alternative formats and maintaining paper filing options for some digital reporting processes, and making additional support available for those who need it.

–        Similar mitigations have been identified for users where accessibility could be restricted for people in different age groups, including the option to appoint someone else to deal with self-assessment transactions on their behalf.

–        Paper filing and digital options available outside of HMRC’s core business hours will help to address potential barriers for members of different religious groups.