Social Security regulations

·       The Social Security (Scottish Rate of Income Tax etc) (Amendment) Regulations, SI 2016/233: These insert appropriate references to ‘Scottish taxpayer’ and ‘Scottish basic rate’ of income tax with effect from 6 April 2016, to be taken into account when calculating the net income of self-employed taxpayers for the purposes of determining the level of their entitlement to a range of state benefits. The regulations also update references to ‘personal allowances’, substituting instead ‘personal reliefs’.

·       The State Pension (Amendment) (No 2) Regulations, SI 2016/240: These set out arrangements for crediting NICs for the purposes of the new state pension with effect from 6 April 2016, including retrospective Class 3 NICs for spouses and civil partners of armed services personnel.

·       The Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations, SI 2016/232: These enable HMRC to include the full range of recovery options available to the DWP in notices it issues to claimants concerning the recovery of overpaid tax credits, which the DWP may apply once a claimant with an outstanding tax credit debt transfers to universal credit, with effect from 1 April 2016.