As per the title - in my latest (arrived this week) F60 I notice there is no tax deducted from my Volunteer Allowance.
I believe this must have been the case last year and I recently had a letter from HMRC requesting me to pay unpaid tax…
so
1 - is anyone else getting this?
2 - is this now the “norm” that uniformed CFAVs will be chased by HMRC to pay the tax on VA?
3 - if the answer to 2 is “yes” - another admin burden for the CFAV
4 - why is there no tax deduction from VA, yet HMRC are chasing me - is it not easier for all to collect at the point of distribution?
You need to ring the tax office, i had an issue a few years ago as HMRC decided that the ATC was my primary employment and gave me my full personal entitlement on my cadet “Pay”. Which meant i got stung with my work pay. I got a nice refund though.
One phone call to HMRC sorted it all out. Its nothing to do with HQAC and they only do what the tax office tell them.
I did notice that they are using the wrong NI number on my statement - haven’t had a response from HQAC yet on what needs to be done to correct it. I have paid tax though.
From experience of being “complicated”, PAYE breaks horrifically if you have more than one form of income. I have to do a tax return anyway, so leave it 'till then to sort out.
You can change your tax codes for this coming year if they’re wrong, but otherwise it’s just HMRC guessing.
Does it?
I always found that it was pretty easy. We got our tax free allowance on our primary income through PAYE, therefore everything additional - such as pay/remuneration/VA/next month’s new name from HQAC - is taxed at 20% basic rate (or higher if you are a big earner).
The only difficulty then was if one didn’t earn over the free allowance in the year, such as having left work or something. That then required an application to reclaim the over payed tax.
Easy option, talk to an accountant, keeps you on the right side of the law and also may allow you to claim tax allowances for things that you buy for Corps activities.
Interesting from ACAS regarding volunteering and payment. If a CFAV is a volunteer then they have a right to milage allowance and feeding but no right to payment as such for days volunteered. So for the 28 days is that paid employment with all the rights and responsibilities of an employee and the responsibilities of an employer. Yes it’s an old chestnut but one, one day that HMRC may wish to start roasting in regards to Class 2 NI Contributions.
Volunteers
'Volunteers are those who carry out unpaid work typically for a charity, voluntary organisation or fundraising body. Volunteers should have access to appropriate training and development, and usually will have a role description rather than a job description.
Volunteers are not entitled to the national minimum wage as they don’t get paid other than travel or lunch expenses and therefore will not be classed as a worker. Volunteers do not have a contract of employment but often have a volunteering agreement.’
I seem to recall a few years ago HQAC did a big push to all whom receive pay or whatever we are supposed to call it now so that they could confirm and verify whether any pay from Cadet activities was a primary or secondary income etc, before then they certainly didnt have it correct for me, but has been sorted ever since.
Part of the uniformed staff application is the HMRC Starter pack, which allows specification of whether the remuneration received is the only source of income or if the applicant has another job much like a P46.
For my part, RAFAC income is taxed at code BR (20%) and 1250L (19/20) allocated to main employment.
I get that but no rebate. Means I don’t get that much on an APO pay after tax and student loan. But still better than a kick in the balls. Or waking up and realising that I’m Mr Non-stick.
CFAV’s are not volunteers as they receive remuneration for days worked and get taxed on this.
CFAVs are volunteers so the MoD does not have to provide pension contributions, sick pay, holiday pay and all the other rights of an employee.
Until this is challenged by us or the HMRC in a formal setting, we will keep going on this merry go round!!
Do we need to challenge it though?
What’s the worse case scenario if we don’t?
We’re getting remuneration for some of our time and we’re paying tax appropriately.
With that in mind I don’t much care whether I’m formally classed as a volunteer or not. I’m certainly not the special type of person to demand sick pay or pension from the RAF.
Is there something particular I’m missing which means that I should care? Could there be an issue surrounding NI perhaps?
'Volunteers are those who carry out unpaid work typically for a charity, voluntary organisation or fundraising body. Volunteers should have access to appropriate training and development, and usually will have a role description rather than a job description.
Volunteers are not entitled to the national minimum wage as they don’t get paid other than travel or lunch expenses and therefore will not be classed as a worker. Volunteers do not have a contract of employment but often have a volunteering agreement.’
Can’t have it both ways, if you are being paid you should also pay Class 2 NI contributions not just tax. If you’re getting paid for some of your time then that is defacto a wage therefore in my view, employment.
Would be interesting to see what happens, or is said, if HQ RAFAC decides to go down that route; especially as we have all signed the Volunteer Agreement, or supposed to have.
If we are ‘volunteers’ by name, then we should ALL be entitled to travel (no matter the journey) and paid for lunch.
Would be interesting to see Wing HQ slant on this as T&S comes out of their budget.