The PC fee – not a benefit-in-kind

29/03/2018 07:22:00

Read recent guidance on the tax treatment of Practising Certificate (PC) fees.

A Compulsory Requirement

Professional subscriptions paid by a solicitor’s firm on behalf of their employees is a benefit-in-kind unless the employee cannot exercise their duties without this membership and membership is “wholly, necessarily and exclusively” required.

It is the view of the Law Society that Practising Certificate fees are not a benefit-in-kind, on the basis that a practising certificate is a compulsory requirement and prerequisite to practise and should therefore fall under the "wholly necessarily and exclusively" principle.

For more information and examples, see Revenue eBrief 04/18

Law Society eZine

This article originally appeared in the March 2018 Law Society eZine. For more information, and to subscribe, see eNewsletters.