| Benefits Code I and Exemptions and Exclusions |
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discharged, rather than what right the employees acquired, explains what remains a very technical area of law. However, its clarity leads to further anomalies. When employees drive into a garage and pump petrol into their cars they may be agents for the employer or acting on their own account.38 If the employer is an undisclosed principal the employee is personally liable on the contract, which may be enough to make the employee liable to income tax on the full sum.39 |
15A.3 Benefits Code Part 3 Chapter 4 Vouchers and Credit Tokens; Legislation |
The above anomalies have led to legislation concerning vouchers (cash and non-cash) and credit tokens. This is one area where the format of the legislation has been greatly improved by the ITEPA. |
Chapter 4 begins with cash vouchers. A voucher provided to an employee by reason of his employment that can be exchanged for cash is taxed in full and subject to the PAYE system.40 Cash vouchers do not give rise to a charge if they are available to the public generally or issued under a Revenue-approved scheme or if the sums themselves would be exempt from tax, eg because would not be employment income of the employee if paid directly.41 Where the voucher is attached to a card the income arises at the time of attachment.42 For the voucher to be a cash voucher it must be exchangeable for a sum of money not substantially less than the expense incurred by the person providing the voucher; this rule is disregarded where the money is |