Veterans National Insurance – NI code V
Employers will only be able to claim National Insurance contributions relief on the earnings of qualifying veterans.
A person qualifies as a veteran if they have served at least one day in the regular armed forces. This includes anyone who has completed at least one day of basic training.
Relief is available for any civilian employment. A civilian employment is one that is not part of the armed forces, and includes employments with organisations that may have strong links to HM Armed Forces, such as the Ministry of Defence or NATO. Employment with a reserve organisation is not considered as civilian for the purpose of this relief and do not trigger the qualifying period.
Self-employed individuals do not pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions. Therefore, self-employed businesses do not qualify for this relief. In addition, self-employed work does not trigger the qualifying period.
The process of applying Veteran National Insurance
- Relief will apply on earnings up to the upper secondary threshold.
- If a veteran’s earnings are above the threshold, employers can apply the relief on the part of the earnings below the threshold. This approach is in line with existing reliefs for under 21s and under 25s apprentices.
- Employers can claim relief if they employ a veteran during the qualifying period.
- The qualifying period starts on the first day of the veteran’s first civilian employment since leaving the regular armed forces and ends 12 months later.
- Employers can claim relief even if the employment starts before 6 April 2021, but will only be able to claim for the remaining qualifying period.
- The first day of employment will be the start date taken from the employment contract between the employer and the employee.
- This 12 month period does not change if the employment finishes. This means that current and future employers can also claim this relief if they employ a veteran within their qualifying period.
- Subsequent employers must determine the first day of the veteran’s first civilian employment, and confirm that the veteran is employed with their business during the qualifying period.
For more information and examples on Veteran national insurance including the relevant 2022/23 NI tables please visit the below websites:
Freeport National Insurance – NI Code F
Who can claim Freepoint NI relief
Employer NIC relief comes into effect from the 6th of April 2022 but will provisionally end in April 2026. There could however be an extension to 2031.
You can claim the relief if you have a business premises in a Freeport tax site.
To claim the relief, all employees must:
- spend 60% of their working time in the Freeport tax site, unless you have made adjustments to your employee’s working arrangement to accommodate:
- disability
- pregnancy
- maternity
- be new employees from 6 April 2022, and before 6 April 2026, within the first 36 months of their employment
- not have been employed by you or a connected employer in the previous 24 months
How much relief you can claim
You will only need to pay Secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions if your employee earns more than the Freeport Upper Secondary Threshold of:
- £25,000 per year
- £2,083 per month
- £481 per week
This means that if an employee earns less than this, then no Secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions are due.
For more information and examples on Freeport national insurance including the relevant 2022/23 NI tables please visit the below websites:
Alternatively, please contact the Critchleys payroll manager directly if you are interested in outsourcing your payroll function and would like a bespoke quotation.
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