At the start of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) I wrote that if the Government’s political legacy through the pandemic were to have any chance of surviving intact in the eyes of employers, the Scheme would have to be above all clear and easy for employers to use. Even though parts of the guidance … Continue Reading
Trying to find the most depressing part of the new House of Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee report on IR35 is not easy. There are so many possible candidates, for one thing, and as an insight into the legislative process it is little short of terrifying. Not even law by twitter like the Job Retention Scheme, … Continue Reading
A well-known term of the CJRS is that the employee shouldn’t while on furlough do any work for the employer or provide any services to it. A simple enough proposition, one might think, despite the unknown pundit whose wise words appear above, but as with much of this Scheme, once you get down into the … Continue Reading
It is very hard to criticise the conception of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, but it is unfortunately becoming increasingly easy to take objection to the manner of its implementation. HMRC Chief Executive Jim Harra told the BBC last week that in the preparation of the Scheme, “time, in some senses, has been the enemy … Continue Reading
Here is a quick glimpse behind the scenes of parliamentary process – some highlights from the Parliamentary Treasury Committee meeting yesterday when officials from HMRC were quizzed by the Committee about the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, plus some thoughts of our own in bold. The new scheme will be up and running on 20 April … Continue Reading
The keen follower of IR35, for there must be such a person, will have seen reports in the Press about the blanket approaches to PSC contractors being taken by some businesses of a size and/or reputation that they don’t need to worry too much about the views of those who may wish to work for … Continue Reading
Following the Government’s review into the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, it has announced a number of changes which are to be introduced in April of this year. Whilst the headlines focus on the reintroduction of naming and shaming of those who pay below the NMW, other aspects of the changes are … Continue Reading
Ready for IR35 in three months’ time? Nor is almost anyone else, it seems. But is it now too late to do anything about it, or can you still take meaningful steps, even at this advanced stage, to protect your IR35 position?… Continue Reading
Last month the government published both the results of its latest consultation on IR35 and the draft legislation. So with time to digest, any surprises?… Continue Reading
Over 240 people signed up for our IR35 webinar last Thursday. I would love to see this as a long-overdue recognition of my presentation skills, but fear instead that it just reflects widespread and continuing uncertainty among end-users about how new IR35 will work in practice. Our latest information is that the draft legislation will … Continue Reading
We have cautioned earlier in this series about allowing your PSC contractors to become integrated into your business so far as their outward projection to clients is concerned – describing them as part of “our team”, giving them business cards, company phones or invitations to the client party, and so on. Integration is something you … Continue Reading
With the very kind assistance of APSCo and two members of HMRCs Employment Status and Intermediaries Policy team, we recently held two client workshops on the practical issues arising to end-users and recruiters from “new” IR35.… Continue Reading
When considering whether an individual would be an end-user’s employee for IR35 purposes if you took away his personal services company, HMRC will pay particular attention to how far his role can be said to be integrated into the business of that end-user. Some peripheral involvement is absolutely fine, but the greater the degree of … Continue Reading
In an earlier part of this series I floated the question of whether you could safely omit from a contract with a personal services company some of the “quality control” wording you might see in an employment contract. After all, runs the argument, that sort of obligation must amount to control or direction, and then … Continue Reading
From April 2020, IR35 will make end-user businesses liable to deduct income tax and National Insurance on payments to personal service contractor companies where, if you took away the company, the individual whose services are supplied would be their employee. A key factor in that question is the obligation of personal service on the individual … Continue Reading
So you have identified your individual contractor and you want to agree terms of engagement with his personal services company which give you the best possible chance of avoiding direct liability under IR35 when it changes in 2020. Here are some preliminary tips:… Continue Reading
It is a common feature in many sectors for potential new recruits to undertake a work trial prior to being offered a permanent role. This type of trial, normally undertaken without pay, has obvious potential for the exploitation of the would-be employee. It certainly leads to a grey area when it comes to National Minimum … Continue Reading
HMRC has been successful in the first case since 2011 on the intermediaries legislation (known as the IR35 rules) in a case which brings back into the limelight a commonly-used freelancing structure.… Continue Reading
The UK Government is altering the tax treatment of some termination payments for exits taking effect on or after 6 April. These changes are the product of the HMRC’s grotesquely misnamed Simplification of the Tax and NI Treatment of Termination Payments consultation paper in August 2015. The worst excesses of this have come off in the … Continue Reading
With apologies for the interruption to this series, here are two further reader questions on the GDPR as it will apply to employers in the UK. I have heard that my corporate email address is my personal data. Does that mean that a DSAR sent to my employer should bring me copies of everything in … Continue Reading
As more employers are ‘named and shamed’ in the press for paying below the National Minimum Wage, the immediate question is “How can a large employer, with significant resources, be paying below the NMW by accident?” There are numerous areas where employers may find themselves unwittingly paying below the NMW and on the naughty step … Continue Reading
Last week HMRC launched an online tool to help decide whether an individual is employed or self-employed for tax purposes (not whether he is a “worker” for employment status purposes, which is a separate question which HMRC isn’t bothered about). The tool is here online tool. You answer some questions, turn a metaphorical handle and … Continue Reading
