New rates
The government has announced the rates and thresholds for NI contributions for 2020/21. There’s nothing startling about them with one important exception; there will be two NI earnings thresholds (ETs). While in 2017 the government committed to aligning the ETs for employers and employees to simplify employment taxes, from 6 April 2020 they will diverge again, this time by a significant amount. Employers will start to pay for NI on workers’ salaries which exceed the rate of £8,788 per year, while the workers won’t start to pay until their salaries exceed the rate of £9,500 per year.
Tip. As a company owner manager be aware of the different ETs when working out the most tax-efficient salary to take from your business (see The next step ).
From 6 April 2020 employers will be liable to NI on salaries they pay if they exceed the rate of £8,788 per year while the trigger point for directors is £9,500. Make sure you take account of the different thresholds when working out the most tax/NI efficient salary to take.