HMRC produce a range of guidance, essential for payroll professionals.
One such piece of guidance is Booklet 490 ‘The tax and National Insurance contributions treatment of business travel by employees’.
The online 490 ‘Tax and National Insurance contributions for employee travel’ contains a glossary of terms and 12 chapters:
1. Overview of tax and National Insurance contributions for employee travel
2. When travel qualifies for tax relief
3. Ordinary commuting and private travel
4. Safeguards against abuse of employee travel tax relief
5. Business journeys tax relief
6. National Insurance contributions and employee travel expenses
7. Special tax rules on foreign travel
8. Tax rules on other types of travel and related expenses
9. Employers’ reporting requirements for travel expenses
10. Expenses exemption and PAYE Settlement Agreements
11. Employer compliance for travel expenses
12. Employees’ responsibilities for travel expenses
On 16 May 2025, the glossary and chapter 7 were updated in respect of the Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) regime which came into force on 06 April 2025 and replaced the remittance basis of taxation. The FIG regime applies where the individual is a ‘qualifying new resident’ (in the UK) and the following changes have been made:
- The glossary had been updated with a definition of a ‘qualifying new resident’; and
- Chapter 7 has been updated to remove the words domicile and introduce the terminology ‘qualifying new resident’
For Bookkeepers
If the FIG does impact members, ICB suggests reading HMRC’s Residence and FIG Regime Manual – it was complicated before and remains a complicated regime of taxing foreign income and foreign gains.
