tronc-record

---
name: tronc-record
description: Builds the record a tronc needs to survive a tax inspection and a tribunal claim at the same time, from the troncmaster's own allocation notes rather than from the employer's payroll. It keeps the two tests separate, whether the tronc is independent enough that HMRC will not charge employer National Insurance on the payments, and whether the allocation was fair enough that a worker cannot win a tribunal claim, because a tronc can pass one test and fail the other. Use when you run tips through a tronc, when you appoint or change a troncmaster, or before an inspection or a worker's records request.
---

# The tronc record that answers both questions at once

You give this the troncmaster's allocation notes for the period and a short account of who decides what. You get back one record per tip, a verdict on whether the employer's involvement is light enough to keep the National Insurance exemption, and the three-year file the Code of Practice requires regardless of that answer.

## What it does

1. **Tests independence the way HMRC actually tests it, not the way owners assume it works.** HMRC's guidance on tips, gratuities, service charges and troncs states that tips do not attract National Insurance contributions where "the employer does not determine, directly or indirectly, the allocation of those tips," and defines allocation as "deciding who should receive what amount by way of tips." Its own worked examples show the line: an employer who appoints a troncmaster but plays "no part, directly or indirectly, in the allocation of the tips" keeps the exemption, while one whose troncmaster "is indirectly allocating the tips" on the employer's wishes loses it, and an employer who influences only who may join the tronc, not how much each person gets, keeps it.
2. **Flags the employer-as-troncmaster trap.** The same guidance states that where an employer, partner or company official acts as troncmaster, "they are considered to be making payments as if they were the employer," so the NI exemption and the arm's length record both fail together.
3. **Builds the fairness record the Code requires alongside the tax record.** The statutory Code of Practice says an independent operator can be an external payroll or accountancy firm, or a staff member elected or agreed by workers, and warns "care is needed to maintain independence." It requires the employer to set a framework for the tronc "in line with principles of fairness," and if the employer later becomes aware the tronc is operating unfairly, to act, for example by changing instructions or replacing the operator.
4. **Keeps a three-year record of every tip the tronc handled.** The Code requires a record of how each qualifying tip was dealt with, maintained "for a period of three years beginning with the date on which the tip was paid."
5. **Separates the tronc's tax treatment from the employer's duty to act on a bad tronc.** Acas guidance is explicit that if a tronc is not sharing tips fairly or is making deductions, the employer must still act, by raising concerns, changing the troncmaster, or ending the arrangement, because a genuinely independent tronc does not excuse the employer from the Code.

## Then it checks

1. Every allocation decision is attributed to the troncmaster, not to the employer, with a note of who actually set the amount.
2. No employer, partner or company official appears as the person deciding an allocation.
3. The fairness framework the employer set for the tronc is on file, dated, and distinct from any individual allocation.
4. Every tip has a record covering three years from its payment date, not three years from today.
5. Any complaint about the tronc's fairness has a logged employer response: raised with the tronc, troncmaster changed, or arrangement ended.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only. Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never record an employer, partner or company official as the troncmaster and also as independent.
- Never advise on the National Insurance outcome of a specific tronc; HMRC's guidance gives the test, not this skill.
- This is a working document for the owner to check against their own payroll and for HMRC guidance or their accountant to confirm the National Insurance treatment. It is not tax or legal advice.

## Built from
- HM Revenue and Customs, "Guidance on tips, gratuities, service charges and troncs" (E24), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/e24-tips-gratuities-service-charges-and-troncs/guidance-on-tips-gratuities-service-charges-and-troncs, read 4 November 2026: the independence test and worked examples behind steps 1 and 2.
- Department for Business and Trade, "Code of Practice on Fair and Transparent Distribution of Tips", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/distributing-tips-fairly-statutory-code-of-practice/code-of-practice-on-fair-and-transparent-distribution-of-tips-html-version, published 29 July 2024, in force 1 October 2024, read 4 November 2026: paragraphs 30 to 32 and 41 to 43 behind steps 3 and 4.
- Acas, "Tips and service charges: what the law says", https://www.acas.org.uk/tips-and-service-charges, read 4 November 2026: the employer's duty to act on an unfair tronc, behind step 5.

# tronc-record

## You are given
The troncmaster's own allocation notes for the period: one entry per tip or per pooled amount, with date received, amount, and who decided the split. A short account of who holds the troncmaster role (external firm, elected staff member, or an employer/partner/company official) and how they were appointed. Any instance of the employer setting membership rules, instructions, or a fairness framework for the tronc. Any complaint received about the tronc, and what the employer did about it. Any previous tronc record.

## Produce
Write into a `./tronc-record-output/` folder:

1. `tip-ledger.csv` with columns: `row_ref`, `date_received`, `amount_gbp`, `decided_by`, `decider_role`, `retain_until_date`. `row_ref` is T0001 upward. `decider_role` is exactly one of `independent troncmaster (external firm)`, `independent troncmaster (elected staff)`, `employer`, `partner or company official`, `unclear`. `retain_until_date` is `date_received` plus three years.
2. `independence-test.csv` with columns: `row_ref`, `employer_involvement_described`, `allocation_decided_by_employer_directly`, `allocation_decided_by_employer_indirectly`, `membership_only_influence`, `verdict`. The three `allocation_decided_by...` and `membership_only_influence` columns are `yes` or `no`, taken only from what was supplied, never inferred. `verdict` is exactly one of `independent as described`, `employer is the troncmaster`, `indirect allocation described`, `insufficient information supplied`.
3. `fairness-framework.md` - the dated text of any framework the employer set for the tronc, verbatim, with the date it was last reviewed; if none was supplied, state that plainly.
4. `complaint-log.csv` with columns: `complaint_date`, `complaint_summary_verbatim`, `employer_action`, `action_date`. `employer_action` is exactly one of `raised with tronc`, `troncmaster changed`, `arrangement ended`, `no action recorded`.
5. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: any row where `decider_role` is `employer` or `partner or company official`; any `independence-test.csv` verdict other than `independent as described`; any tip whose `retain_until_date` has already passed without a record of disposal; any complaint with `no action recorded`; any row with no `decided_by` supplied.

## Rules
- Codex counts, matches, checks and records. It never decides whether a tronc is independent for tax purposes and never gives a National Insurance opinion; it only reports what the supplied facts say against HMRC's own stated test.
- Never mark `verdict` as `independent as described` unless the supplied facts show no direct or indirect employer involvement in deciding amounts.
- Every retention date is calculated as exactly three years from the date the tip was paid, never from today's date.
- Use British English, GBP and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own payroll and for HMRC guidance or their accountant to confirm the National Insurance treatment. It is not tax or legal advice.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written and the row count of each CSV. The count of rows by `decider_role` and by `independence-test.csv` verdict. Every row flagged as employer or partner acting as troncmaster. Every complaint with `no action recorded`. The earliest and latest `retain_until_date` in the ledger. The `gaps.md` item count.