Last week saw Finance Bill 2025/26 receive Royal Assent on 18 March 2026 to become Finance Act 2026. The Act enacts major legislation across a wide range of areas, many of which will take effect from next month. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be taking a look in Chartered Accountants Tax News at the key changes coming into operation next month as a result of the Act, when both the new Financial Year 2026 and tax year 2026/27 commence on 1 and 6 April 2026 respectively.
In other legislative news, the National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill is now awaiting Royal Assent. Under the Bill, from April 2029, a primary and secondary Class 1 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) charge will be applied where employer pension contributions are made via salary sacrifice arrangements that exceed £2,000.
The Bill will amend Section 4 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, and Section 4 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, so that amounts of salary sacrificed for employer pensions contributions pursuant to optional remuneration arrangements are liable to Class 1 NICs.
The Government has also published amendments to PAYE Regulations which provide for mandatory payrolling of employee benefits in kind, rather than annually through form P11D. The Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 will enter into force from April 1, 2026. However, the changes regarding the mandatory requirement regarding "payrolling" benefits in kind will not apply until 6 April 2027 onwards. The Regulations also remove the requirement for employers who have ceased trading to submit form P11D digitally. Instead, these employers can now choose whether to submit the return electronically or in paper form.
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