NIM02045 - Class 1 NICs : Earnings of employees and office holders: Customary payments
If there is no legal obligation to make a payment because it is not provided for in the contract of employment (see NIM02040), it will still be liable for NICs if there is a custom in the particular employment of making such payments.
An example of such a payment might be a retirement gratuity payable to employees of a particular grade within a company. If the company is in the habit of always making payments to employees within that grade upon their retirement, it will be well-known among those employees that such a payment will be available when they retire. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp payment therefore forms part of the terms under which they provide their services and will be earnings for the purposes of NICs (see NIM02010).