Having to pay for gym membership when you work there

BurnsieUK

Hello, not sure which section to put this in...so here goes.

I work in a gym, have done for many a year. As part of my employment I had a complimentary gym membership.

The organisation is now saying due to tax reasons they cant offer this complimentary membership anymore. Therefore, for the rest of this calendar year we have to pay tax on a membership. From Jan 2013 we have to pay for a full membership a full price.

The gym is part of a bigger organisation (university), and this policy is coming from HR and is being forced on us. The management of the gym say that there is nothing that can be done.

I’m not so sure....my sister is an accountant and agrees that’s its not the same/equvilant as running a company car, for example.

Anyone any ideas on how this works (re tax for the business etc).

00ec25

can't provide an HMRC link for it at present but where the employer provides an ON SITE gym faciltity then membership of it is not a benefit in kind so is not taxable - the employer can of course charge for membership so from jan 2013 you will have to pay for it from your taxed income - that does not mean that you can claim a tax rebate though!

Unitil then, whilst it remains free for your use, you will not be taxed on it . Does not matter if you are a university or a swish City bank the rule is the same if its on site and open to all employees to use its tax free

I would ask your HR dept to speak to your finance/payroll dept becuase if it is physically on campus then HR is wrong in saying its taxable -

Edit here we go... refer HR to HRMC so they know who's right
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/exb/a-z/s/sports.htm

CTA_2

BurnsieUK wrote: »

Hello, not sure which section to put this in...so here goes.

I work in a gym, have done for many a year. As part of my employment I had a complimentary gym membership.

The organisation is now saying due to tax reasons they cant offer this complimentary membership anymore. Therefore, for the rest of this calendar year we have to pay tax on a membership. From Jan 2013 we have to pay for a full membership a full price.

The gym is part of a bigger organisation (university), and this policy is coming from HR and is being forced on us. The management of the gym say that there is nothing that can be done.

I’m not so sure....my sister is an accountant and agrees that’s its not the same/equvilant as running a company car, for example.

Anyone any ideas on how this works (re tax for the business etc).

Have they opened up the gym to the public recently?

The subs would be tax exempt if the gym wasn't available to the public generally. But I would expect this gym is available to members of the public and therefore the benefit would be a taxable one.

CTA_2

00ec25 wrote: »

can't provide an HMRC link for it at present but where the employer provides an ON SITE gym faciltity then membership of it is not a benefit in kind so is not taxable - the employer can of course charge for membership so from jan 2013 you will have to pay for it from your taxed income - that does not mean that you can claim a tax rebate though!

Unitil then, whilst it remains free for your use, you will not be taxed on it . Does not matter if you are a university or a swish City bank the rule is the same if its on site and open to all employees to use its tax free

I would ask your HR dept to speak to your finance/payroll dept becuase if it is physically on campus then HR is wrong in saying its taxable - speaking as one from a University background....

as far as i understand the benefits code in relation to this, it isn't the location of the gym but rather whether that gym is available to be used by the general public?

BurnsieUK

it is open the public. The main fact is we work in the gym. We have to know how to use the equipment. We cant use it properly "on shift", but will now have to pay to use it "off shift".

BurnsieUK

in addition, do we pay tax on the membership cost or would we have the buy a whole membership (cost price to the public) to stop the uni getting taxed on our "free" membership?

CTA_2

BurnsieUK wrote: »

it is open the public. The main fact is we work in the gym. We have to know how to use the equipment. We cant use it properly "on shift", but will now have to pay to use it "off shift".

Well according to the UK tax code, that would be a taxable benefit.

It may be possible that the university had an agreement in place with HMRC (these agreements do happen as the university should have charitable status and the universities all group together to argue for certain benefits with HMRC). However, i do not work within the not for profit arena and therefore couldn't say whether this was the case.

CTA_2

BurnsieUK wrote: »

in addition, do we pay tax on the membership cost or would we have the buy a whole membership (cost price to the public) to stop the uni getting taxed on our "free" membership?

the only cost to the university is having to operate PAYE on the value of the benefit.

The tax liability is yours, not the university's. However, the university may not want the hassle of dealing with it and therefore are making this policy decision.

ILW

I do not believe you can be forced to take up membership.

whitewing

Just being nosy rather than being able to offer assistance: do/did all employees of the uni get it free, or just those who actually worked in the gym?

BurnsieUK

ILW wrote: »

I do not believe you can be forced to take up membership.

we are not... think most will take a membership at a different gym. but then the management team will start moaning when we are not great at using the equipment in our gym due to not being able to use it "properly"