Students - Don’t pay too much tax this Christmas

CALLING all students... have you got a Christmas holiday job? If so, make sure you hang on to your hard-earned cash and don’t pay too much tax this holiday season.

Holiday jobs

If you have a holiday job, you won’t have to pay tax if your total earnings for the tax year are less than £6,475. This figure is known as the “personal allowance” and everybody’s allowed to earn this much before they start paying tax.

To make sure you don’t pay tax, however, you need to fill in a form P38(S). This confirms to your employer – and the tax authorities – that you are a student and only working during the holidays. You can download the form from the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) website.

If you have a holiday job and you don’t fill in a form P38(S) to confirm you’re a student, you may have to pay tax, but if you do, you’ll be able to claim it back later.

Term-time jobs

If you work during term time, your wages will be taxed in the same way as everybody else in the UK. But if your weekly wages are less than £125 a week and you don’t earn more than £6,475 in the current tax year (from 6 April 2010 to 5 April 2011), you are not liable to tax as everyone can earn up to the personal allowance before they start paying tax.

If you work during term time and earn more than £125 a week, you have to pay tax and National Insurance Contributions, which everybody in the UK has to pay. But if you stop working and you earn less than the £6,475 personal allowance for the tax year, you can claim a tax refund.

Claiming tax back

To claim a tax refund, you’ll need to fill in a form P50, which you can download. Send your completed form to:- HMRC, Government Buildings, Ty-glas, Llanishen, Cardiff, CF14 5YA.

If you need help filling in the form, contact your local tax office, which you can find at:- hmrc.gov.uk – select “Contact us” at the top, then “Find your Tax Office” on the bottom left.

Not sure if you’ve paid too much tax?

If you want to check whether you’ve paid too much tax and are due a refund, you can use the student tax checker at:- hmrc.gov.uk/calcs/stc.htm.

If you are planning to employ students over the Christmas holidays, you may be able to pay them gross.

Advice for Employers - Holiday jobs

If students work for you during the holidays and they do not do any other paid work in term time, they do not have to pay tax if their annual earnings are less than this year’s personal allowance of £6,475.

Before you pay any student, they will have to sign a P38(S) form confirming that they are students and that they are only working during the holidays.

You can download the form from HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) website.

If a student does not fill in a P38(S), you will have to operate PAYE in the usual way. If they pay any tax, they can claim it back by filling in a P50 form and sending it to HMRC in Cardiff.

Part-time jobs in term time

If a student works for you during term time, a P38(S) is not appropriate and you should operate PAYE in the usual way. If they earn less than £6,475 in the current tax year and you have deducted tax from them, they can claim the tax back later. They will need to fill in a P50 form and send it to HMRC in Cardiff.

For more information on students and tax, go to the HMRC website and select:- “New employee – special situations.”

STUDENT PROTEST IN LIVERPOOL

MERSEYSIDE Police have facilitated a peaceful protest during a national student day of action on Wednesday, 8 December 2010, in Liverpool City Centre. Police accompanied protestors on an organised march from Mountford Hall to St George’s Hall, along a pre-agreed route. Officers worked closely with partner agencies to ensure the safety of protestors and members of the public. Assistant Chief Constable Helen King, said:- "I am pleased with how today’s event has gone and I would like to thank the organisers for their assistance. I would also like to thank the participants, residents, businesses and members of the public for their patience and co-operation throughout. An appropriate policing plan, developed with our partners, was used to ensure minimal disruption in the city centre and the protest has passed without any incident. It is important that people have the opportunity to protest peacefully and my officers have worked hard today to facilitate everyone being able to express their views in a safe environment.” Merseyside Police maintained a policing service across the region throughout the day.

JLA still tops UK airport growth league table

THE latest analysis of UK airport passenger traffic shows that Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) has seen the largest increase in scheduled passenger numbers of any UK airport for the period January to September 2010, compared to the same period in 2009.

The latest publication of data produced by well respected aviation industry consultants RDC Aviation, contains analysis of UK passenger traffic flows as reported by the CAA up to September 2010. For the year to date, over 225,000 additional scheduled passengers chose to use JLA compared to the same period last year – the greatest increase in scheduled passenger numbers of any UK airport during this period.

JLA has continued to be the top UK airport for growth in scheduled passenger numbers for most of this year and this news comes despite seeing the significant loss in business during the New Year snow and ice disruption and the six day closure of UK airspace caused by the Icelandic volcano ash cloud in April.

The Airport was shown to be just one of only eleven UK airports in a list of 50, to see any growth in passenger numbers between January and September and the second fastest growing UK airport with passenger growth of 5.6%.

In terms of scheduled passengers, Liverpool remains in eighth place in the league table of busiest UK airports in 2010, with almost four million passengers having used the Airport by the end of September.

Additional services operated during this period by airlines such as KLM, Eastern Airways, easyJet and Ryanair, in comparison to the same time last year, have all contributed to this success.

Work on a £12m development program at the airport is now nearing completion in order to better accommodate the needs of airport users. Developments have included the opening of a new passenger security screening area and expansion of the Airport’s departure lounge, bringing a number of new and exciting retail developments and high street names to the Airport for the first time.

Peel Airports’ CEO Craig Richmond commented:- “Once again its credit to all here at the Airport that Liverpool continues to out perform other UK airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester who have all continued to experience a decline in passenger numbers throughout the year. Whilst we recognise we now have a difficult few months ahead as we enter the quieter Winter period, it is pleasing that for most of the year we will have been at the top of this particular league table.”