Employing family members

If you employ your partner, ie your spouse, civil partner or (co-habiting) partner, you should decide in what type of role you want to employ them, ie will it be a managerial or non-managerial position?

As they are an employee, you must ensure that you deduct income tax and National Insurance contributions from their pay through the PAYE (Pay As You Earn) system.

It's a good idea to:

• get advice on their terms and conditions of employment - see the written statement
• arrange for your partner to make payments into a pension scheme
• get advice on ways of minimising your own tax bill and/or that of the business while complying with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) rules

For advice on employing your partner, you could contact a tax specialist - see choose and work with an accountant.