Subsistence payments for visiting academics
The law in relation to tax and National Insurance contributions is very complex with regard to people entering or leaving the UK. The default situation is that tax under Schedule E (PAYE) and Class 1 NICs will be deducted from any payment made to a person for work or who is working at the University. There are various double taxation agreements and social security reciprocal agreements with countries in the European Union, USA, Russia and some other countries. Note that these vary as to what is covered: teaching, research, or a combination of both, with durations of 1 year, 2 years or longer.
Providing the visitor is not given a contract of employment, they are not in pursuance of employment in the UK and are not providing services to the University there is no Schedule E (PAYE) implications so National Insurance is not deductible.
Please complete the questionnaire for all visitors who you intend to pay without calling for receipts and return it to the Payroll Office so that it can be sent to the Inland Revenue for a ruling on tax and NI. Please note that we need at least 1 month before the expected arrival of the visiting academic to obtain a ruling. Copies of the Funding offers from any Grantors to support the request should also be attached.
On receipt of the clearance a copy of the authorisation from the Inspector will be sent to the department for their files. A copy of this clearance should be attached to each request for payment. The visiting academic's nationality should be clearly written on the payment request form in place of the national insurance number.
The clearance is given for a visiting academic for a specific period and
any extensions to this period will require further clearance to be
sought by the submission of an Application to HMRC for subsistence payment without tax deductions 
(31kb). Payments requested
outside the approved period will be referred back to the department and
payment withheld until additional clearance has been given, this can
take sometime and departments will be notified if there is any problem.
If you are only reimbursing the visitor actual expenditure on receipts
an application form will not be necessary.