NIM06565 - Employment Allowance: Anti-avoidance

National Insurance Contributions Act 2014 - section 2, subsections (10) to (13)

An employer cannot qualify for the Employment Allowance for any tax year, if they qualified for the Employment Allowance because they undertook avoidance arrangements. Wherever this occurs, the secondary class 1 NICs liabilities arising for the employer during the tax year when the avoidance arrangements took place, will be “excluded liabilities” for the purpose of claiming the Employment Allowance.

“Avoidance arrangements” are any arrangements where the main purpose of which (or one of the main purposes) is to secure that an employer benefits, or benefits further from applying the Employment Allowance provisions. This includes any agreement, understanding, scheme, transaction or series of transactions (whether or not legally enforceable).