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
So there it is – to no-one’s really very great surprise, the Government consultation document on the simplification of the tax and NI treatment of termination payments turns out not to be about simplification after all, but just a naked tax grab. This was reasonably apparent from the chronically ill-considered nature of the original consultation … Continue Reading
Back in 2014 we posted a piece on Moorthy –v- HMRC https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/taxing-times-for-uk-discrimination-claimant/, a case looking at the taxable status of payments to employees for injury to feelings caused by unlawful discrimination. Historically there had been an unspoken understanding that such compensation could be paid tax free, on top of the usual £30,000 allowance for termination … Continue Reading
I know that over the years we have said some pretty harsh things in this blog about assorted government proposals and consultation exercises, but I take it all back. There is a new kid in town, the HM Treasury/HMRC consultation document on Simplification of the Tax and National Insurance Treatment of Termination Payments https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/simplification-of-the-tax-and-national-insurance-treatment-of-termination-payments and … Continue Reading
HMRC issued a consultation document on 17 July 2015 to explore options for tightening up IR35, the intermediaries legislation that aims to tackle tax avoidance through disguised employment. IR35 requires individuals working through an intermediary (e.g. a personal service company (PSC)) to pay broadly the same tax and NICs as any other employee, where they … Continue Reading
The recent Tax tribunal case of Moorthy v HMRC considered the well-known Section 401 ITEPA 2003 which, together with Section 403, makes taxable payments over £30,000 which are directly or indirectly in consideration of the termination of employment. It also looked at the rules allowing compensation for injury to feelings caused by unlawful discrimination to … Continue Reading
Over the past 2 years HMRC has invested close to £100 million on tackling tax avoidance and evasion. It is now using various behind the scenes technology to track and analyse property purchases, tax returns, loans, bank accounts and employment data to create a risk profile database which will highlight transactions and help it identify … Continue Reading
The hotly anticipated Statutory Residence Test (SRT) was published last week, taking up a hearty 64 pages of the 615 page Finance Bill 2013 (not a good holiday read, let us say). The new rules will apply from 5 April 2013. The new test will be very important to employers of mobile employees since the … Continue Reading
In our August 2010 Review (PDF) we reported that that the European Court of Justice European Court of Justice had ruled in Astra Zeneca that employers would have to account for VAT on retail vouchers provided to their employees under salary sacrifice arrangements because the supply of vouchers is treated as the supply of services … Continue Reading
