Home Computing Initiative offers attractive benefits

Government relaunches Home Computing Initiative

The government has recently issued new guidelines for employers on its home computing initiative designed to encourage home ownership of PCs.

The guidelines contain:

• information about why HCI schemes may offer benefits to organisations and their employees
• advice on how to get started
• a set of technical implementation guidelines approved by the Inland Revenue and others
• case studies from a range of organisations that have successfully implemented HCI schemes.

Tax-free home computers

The guidelines aim to help British businesses and public sector organisations take advantage of the £500 annual tax exemption on loaned computers introduced by the Chancellor in the Finance Act 1999. The exemption enables companies to loan computers to their employees as a tax-free benefit. By loaning computers to employees businesses can offer them a valuable benefit which at the same time helps to maximise organisational performance through improved ICT skills.

When compared with purchasing a computer out of taxed income, the employee saves tax and national insurance -- so employees typically obtain additional savings of at least 30% -- and the company saves employers' national insurance contributions.

More details

Copies of the guidelines are available by phoning the DTI publication line on tel: 0870 150 2500 or via the web at www.dti.gov.uk/hci