Payments to employees who chose a cash allowance instead of a company car, on the basis that they would use a non-company car that met stated requirements for business use, were earnings for National Insurance contributions purposes. 

In November 2010, the appellant company wrote to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) claiming reimbursement of secondary National Insurance contributions (NICs) on payments made to employees for the use of employee-owned vehicles from 2004 to 2010, inclusive.  

Following correspondence, in April 2019 HMRC issued 17 decisions to a sample of the appellant’s employees (under SSC(TF)A 1999, s 8), declining to refund NICs paid in relation to payments made during the tax years 2004/05 to 2017/18. The appellant appealed. 

The payments by the appellant to employees were made under a car allowance scheme. In essence, the scheme allowed