Eligibility for Employment Allowance

Tax Question

My client was the sole director of a limited company which provides training services to the NHS. This is the only business the company undertakes. The workload has grown to the extent that the company has taken on two employees to deliver part of the training. I know as a sole director company it was not possible to claim the employment allowance reduction in class 1 National Insurance of £3,000 per annum. Now that this is not a sole director company can the employment allowance be claimed?

Tax Answer

I am afraid not. There are certain functions which debar an employer from claiming the allowance. These are discussed in HMRC’s publication “Eligibility for Employment Allowance: further employment guidance” available on the gov.uk website.

One of the exclusions listed is where the activity is either wholly or mainly of a public nature. This essentially means that if you are doing more than 50% of your work in the public sector the nature of the work would prevent a claim to employment allowance.

Clearly this includes the NHS. The only exclusions from the rule relate to the provision of security or cleaning services for public buildings and supplying IT services to a public department.

So, in the circumstances you describe, the employment will not due available.

Related Tax Questions

How has the Finance Act 2024 changed the cash basis for small businesses?

I have many sole trader and partnership clients in my practice whose profits are small and who already use the cash basis; however, I have read that Finance Act 2024 included a change to th

View Answer

Home Office Upgrades: Can You Claim Tax Relief

My client closed his office during the COVID pandemic, and both the director and employees are looking to update their home offices after years of working from home. Is there any tax relief availab

View Answer

UK Taxation of Foreign Income: Navigating Double Tax Treaties

My client, who is a UK resident and UK domiciled, has received income from abroad from which tax has been withheld. Do I simply return the income on the tax return and claim relief for the foreign

View Answer

Stamp Duty Implications for Inherited Property: Key Considerations and Options

My 2 siblings and I recently inherited a property from our late mother. We all received 1/3 each. I was living with my mother before I inherited the property. I have the option to either buy

View Answer

Abolition of FHL Regime

My client has a furnished holiday let (FHL) – what happens to it from 06 April 2025 onwards when the FHL regime is abolished?

View Answer

The Overlap Relief 2023-2024

I have a few clients with accounting year ends other than the 31 March or 5 April. As a result of this they will have ‘transitional profits’ and ‘overlap relief’ to consider when dealing wi

View Answer

Vantage Fee Protect Customer Testimonials

Having changed over to Vantage a couple of years ago we have been very satisfied with the service. Especially the claims handling and technical advice lines for both our firm and insured clients on employment and business legal matters. The webshop Vantage offer allows our clients to join and pay electronically. This positively impacts our bottom line and makes things simple and efficient for our clients.

Linda Giles Chartered Accountant

Real people, real results

Vantage Fee Protect provide market leading Tax Fee Protection
Insurance schemes through accountants.

The Vantage Portal provides access to a range of digital solutions, including our Claims Portal, Premium Portal, client Webshops and the AddVantage benefits.
Debroah Hawkyard - Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Truly professional staff, especially the account manager who handled my account. Thoroughly recommended.
Craig Hanlon, Beancounter Accountancy Services
Excellent service from a reliable, dedicated team made the whole Tax investigation Service process simple to operate for our firm. Would very gladly recommend.
Michael Lee-Brown, Braywood Limited
I would like to compliment Yasine on his great service and professionalism in handling my company's needs and dealing with all queries surrounding the mailing. Also responding very quickly to emails.
Dave Bowe, BAS Bristol
I have used Vantage for over 10 years and never contemplated moving to another provider which I think says it all. Very friendly/competitive in pricing and professional.
Ronald Brotherton
Always top service and on-hand to deal with any queries. Definitely recommended!
David Wall, A J Bennewith & Co
Having switched to VTFP, we were immediately really impressed with the advice line service, the advisors are brilliant, no waiting times, you nearly always get an advisor on the first time of calling.
Diana, Robinson Miller
We find their technical advice lines are answered quickly, and the staff are highly capable. As a further benefit, we like their online employment portal with over 400 current documents.
Giess Wallis Crisp LLP
We are very pleased to see that the gross premiums number has gone well beyond the promised mark, your bespoke marketing strategy has played an integral part.
Alan Paterson, Anderson Anderson Brown LLP
We moved our tax fee protection scheme to Vantage in 2015. The whole process of switching providers turned out to be painless, thanks to the help of the Vantage team.
O’Reilly Chartered Accountants
We are entering the third year of our relationship with Vantage as our fee protection scheme provider.  We continue to be pleased with the level of service provided.
Scott-Moncrieff
The webshop Vantage offer allows our clients to join and pay electronically. This positively impacts our bottom line and makes things simple and efficient for our clients.
Linda Giles Chartered Accountant
We have been very impressed with Vantage’s claims handling, not only do we now use a simpler online claims portal but the claims team pick up the phone and chat through any issues.
Sterling Chartered Accountants
We moved to Vantage Fee Protect because they offered us something unique – a method of offering fee protection to our clients online via a Synergee branded webshop.
Synergee Ltd

Don’t be shy,
get in touch

Vantage Fee Protect provide market leading Tax Fee Protection
Insurance schemes through accountants.

"*" indicates required fields

Privacy Policy Consent*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.