[foundation-board] Panton Fellowships operations - RFC

Tue Jan 3 13:16:45 UTC 2012

Many apologies - I meant OSI not shuttleworth. Please write this off
as first day of year confusion.

On the question of the OSI intent, we are certainly doing what we said
we'd do in the grant application, but I haven't seen a formal funding
agreement.  Rufus - any ideas where this might be?  Doesn't seem to be
in google docs or dropbox.

On 3 January 2012 11:53, Ben Laurie <ben at links.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 3, 2012 at 11:14 AM, Laura James <laura.james at okfn.org> wrote:

> a) The agreement doesn't seem to say they need to follow the
> principles themselves, which seems a little odd.

Good point, I'll get that added in :)

> b) "This is not employment" - is that sufficient to avoid tax
> liability (particularly PAYE)? Have we checked?

This is a somewhat opaque area, but some relevant material is included
below. Since we are not asking for services (although clause 11 in the
agreement could perhaps be read as such), and this is a grant/award to
researchers, in the mould of similar schemes, I feel this we are OK
and exempt from PAYE etc in this case, but if you'd like me to dig
into this further I can.

Laura
Laura

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM06250.htm

EIM06250 - Employment income: scholarship income: miscellaneous
awards: research awards or fellowships

Section 776 IT(TOI)A 2005 (Section 331 ICTA 1988)
Research awards or fellowships are sometimes offered to qualified
individuals, who have normally completed their post-graduate training,
to enable them to undertake a specific research project over a fixed
period.... Whether payments made to the holder of the award or
fellowship are chargeable to tax will depend on the particular facts.
There is unlikely to be a contract of employment. If the holder of the
award is engaged under an enforceable contract to provide services,
for example, to research a particular project, in return for a fee any
liability to tax will be under the Miscellaneous Income rules (see
BIM65151).

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/BIM65155.htm

BIM65155 - Research grants and fellowships: British Academy
As a result of discussions with the British Academy, the Board have
agreed that in general, awards and grants are not taxable. Where,
however, such awards are received in the course of the beneficiary's
profession or vocation, advice should be obtained from Business Tax
(Technical). As regards other awards see SE06200 and following, and
BIM50710.