Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 section 96A

Power to exempt use of non-cash vouchers or credit-tokens to obtain exempt benefits

Section 96A gives the Treasury a regulation-making power to remove the tax charge that would otherwise apply when non-cash vouchers or credit-tokens are used to obtain benefits that are already tax-exempt when provided directly.

• The Treasury may make regulations exempting non-cash vouchers and credit-tokens from the tax charges that normally apply under the vouchers and credit-tokens rules, provided they are used to obtain benefits specified in those regulations.
• An "exempt benefit" is one whose direct provision to an employee is already free of income tax under the employment income exemptions legislation.
• The regulations need only cover benefits that are specifically listed ("specified") within them — the power does not automatically apply to all exempt benefits.
• The regulations may work by amending the existing statutory exemptions for non-cash vouchers (section 266) and credit-tokens (section 267) used for exempt benefits.