IR35 in the News
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Breaking News: 12-month delay for IR35 Off-Payroll reforms
published on Wednesday, March 18th, 2020
Due to the recent Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the Government have issued a 12-month suspension on Off-Payroll reforms in the private sector. The IR35 legislation will be re-established in April 2021. The Government was advised that contractors deemed ‘inside IR35’ would be essentially forced into ‘zero rights employment’ in the loss of work associated with the […]
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IR35 review confirms a ‘light touch’ for the first 12 months
published on Thursday, March 12th, 2020
Contractors hoping for a delay in the upcoming IR35 legislation will be disappointed, as the Treasury’s IR35 review has confirmed the off-payroll legislation will still come into effect on 6 April 2020. The Conservative party confirmed a proper IR35 review during their election campaigning last year, in response to fears that the self-employed would lose […]
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Chancellor pledges an IR35 review in run-up to General Election
published on Monday, December 9th, 2019
Over the weekend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, announced the Conservative Party’s plans to review the upcoming IR35 reform as part of a pledge to better supported Britain’s self-employed. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Money Box, Mr Javid announced that the Conservative Party would review the upcoming IR35 legislation in order to ensure that […]
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General Election results leave unanswered questions around IR35
published on Friday, December 20th, 2019
Business leaders have wasted no time since the general election in lobbying the Conservative party on the issue of the controversial IR35 tax reforms that will affect contractors in the private sector from April 2020. Although the Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid promised to review IR35 in the weeks prior to the election, neither […]
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IR35 Case Law – Canal Street Productions
published on Wednesday, November 20th, 2019
Television presenter Helen Fospero has emerged victorious against HMRC, and won her case at the tax tribunal over a disputed £80,000 tax bill during her time working as a contractor at ITV. HMRC claimed that during the tax years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014, Ms Fospero was not working as a contractor and owed £80,000 in tax […]
Continue reading →IR35 Case Law – RALC Consulting Ltd
published on Wednesday, November 20th, 2019
IT contractor Richard Alcock was able to successfully defeat HMRC in an IR35 tribunal after an arduous five year investigation. Alcock’s successful appeal concerned multiple engagements entered into by his company, RALC Consulting Ltd, between 2010 and 2015. Alcock’s defence team comprised Chris Leslie from Tax Networks and Dave Chaplin, CEO of ContractorCalculator. Issues of […]
Continue reading →All ‘big four banks’ in UK put a stop to contractors due to IR35 with RBS being the latest
published on Thursday, October 10th, 2019
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has become the latest bank to place a blanket ban on the use of contractors, making it the final of the ‘big four banks’ to react to the new IR35 legislation in the same way. In a recently published internal memo, RBS says ‘all existing contractors’ working as limited […]
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Contractors say HMRC’s revamped CEST tool is still unfit for purpose
published on Friday, November 29th, 2019
Although HMRC have recently made efforts to update their Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool ahead of the upcoming 6 April 2020 deadline, many commentators have claimed that it is still not fit for purpose. The ideas behind the new update and guidance are positive, however there are still various hurdles that users are […]
Continue reading →HMRC launches updated CEST tool
published on Friday, December 6th, 2019
HMRC has released an updated version of the Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool, in order to adequately prepare businesses ahead of the IR35 reform date on 6 April 2020. This is likely in response to criticism levelled at the previous iteration (created back in April 2017) for its inability to provide definitive answers […]
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CEST Tool Inside IR35 Bias?
published on Monday, May 13th, 2019
HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool, is meant to evaluate an individual’s employment status on a set of criteria of which Mutuality of Obligation (MOO) is a key one. Mark Frampton, HMRC’s IR35 Policy Advisor, has been quoted saying about MOO that: “It would rarely, if ever be the case in public sector […]
Continue reading →IR35 Case Law – Lime-IT
published on Sunday, August 18th, 2019
The court case between Lisa Fernley (Lime-IT Ltd.) versus Michael Justin (an officer of the board of Inland Revenue) was resolved on October 2nd 2002, with the Special Commissioners ruling in favour of Lime-IT. The issues of control and Mutuality of Obligation (MOO) were the key factors in the case, and these will be explored […]
Continue reading →IR35 Case Law – MKM Computing
published on Monday, August 12th, 2019
The court case between Martin Ellwood (Director of MKM Computing) and HMRC was resolved in 2008, with Special Commissioners ruling that Mr Ellwood had become ‘part and parcel’ of his client’s firm, and owed £27,000 in employment taxes under IR35. Issues of substitution, control and Mutuality of Obligation (MOO) were the key factors throughout the […]
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HMRC Treating Taxpayers Fairly?
published on Thursday, March 7th, 2019
In December 2018 the Economic Affairs Committee on behalf of the House of Lords released a paper looking at the powers of HMRC. This paper had a particular focus on the case of loan charges (See HMRC’s policy paper). The commitee reviewed input from a wide range of stakeholders with “a great many written submissions […]
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Whatever Happened to the Business Entity Tests?
published on Thursday, February 21st, 2019
Prior to Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST), HMRC stood by the results of Business Entity Tests. Effective April 2015 the tests were abolished by HMRC although they did say that they would stand by the results for three years. What were these tests? The Business Entity Tests essentially established whether a company was truly […]
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Contractors Getting Employment Rights
published on Monday, February 4th, 2019
Private Sector companies are increasingly having to treat contractors more inline with permanent employees. There are an increasing number of cases going against the companies. At the end of 2016, Uber lost a legal bid to show that their drivers were independent contractors and this was recently confirmed on appeal. Two drivers demonstrated that they […]
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Number of Freelancers in the UK
published on Thursday, January 17th, 2019
According to the government’s figures there are 1.9 million Freelancers in the UK. This compares to just 1.4 million in 2014 in the data published by the small business research centre in Kingston University; as reported here. This represents a 35.7% increase in just five years. This is an exceptional increase considering in the previous […]
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CEST Criticised by Judiciary
published on Monday, May 13th, 2019
HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool fails to look at the bigger picture. It’s particularly interesting to measure it against the landmark case of Hall v Lorimer (1993); where Lord Justice Nolan states: “In order to decide whether a person carries on business on his own account it is necessary to consider many […]
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HMRC Aggressively Pursuing Contractors About IR35
published on Monday, January 14th, 2019
HMRC appear to be increasing the pressure on contractors working through Personal Service Companies (PSCs) in the Public Sector; in relation to IR35. It’s only just over a year before IR35 is likely to apply to Medium/Large Private Sector companies. HMRC are aggressively pushing contractors to supply them with information concerning: Compliance of the rules […]
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MPs Risk Losing Seats Over IR35
published on Tuesday, December 4th, 2018
According to some recent analysis, the contractor vote could have a significant impact on any forthcoming election. Comparing Office for National Statistics data showing the number of contractors in each constituency, the margins by which the current MP gained office, and survey results showing that 49% of contractors would change their voting intentions away from the incumbent […]
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Government Departments Encourage IR35 Tax Hike
published on Wednesday, November 28th, 2018
UK Government Departments have encouraged contractors to increase their rates amid serious concerns about the ability to hold on to the 18,000 Digital Contractors in Central Government. HMRC believes that only 10% of the existing 20000 Public Sector Contractors are legitimately declaring themselves Outside IR35. A recent survey showed that only 10% of existing Public […]
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