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From the 30th June, the Annual Return is changing. This document, which must be completed and sent to the Companies House at least once every 12 months, will change to become a Confirmation Statement from this date.
One of the most significant changes attached to the Confirmation Statement is the requirement for companies to publish a list of 'People with Significant Control', explained in more detail below.
If the reforms go ahead, then public sector bodies and agencies would be responsible for deciding whether a contractor qualifies for IR35 restrictions. This differs from the current system where intermediaries like individual limited companies (commonly known as personal service companies) or umbrella companies decide IR35 status.
Experts believe that this will result in more public sector contractors being ‘caught out’ by IR35 legislation. Some fear that even the most independent contractors are at risk of paying more tax because of difficulties proving the absence of IR35.
An anti-corruption summit held in London last week reached several key agreements to help tackle worldwide corruption.
The summit will have important consequences for big companies hiding their money in certain tax havens and on the UK property market, where foreign companies will be forced to declare their interests in any property owned.
The summit made headline news for the wrong reasons before it had even started. Thanks to a blunder from David Cameron, the summit gained more press coverage than it otherwise might have received.
HMRC has been forced to issue revised guidance to contractors engaged through employment intermediaries after it made a drafting error in the travel and subsistence rules.
New government plans for ‘digital tax accounts', that could see contractors forced to update their tax information every quarter, have been snubbed by a bureaucracy watchdog that works with HMRC.
In a report published earlier this month, the Administrative Burdens Advisory Board (ABAB) predicted that plans announced by George Osborne – including mandatory quarterly tax updates – would create too large a burden on small businesses.
In a national referendum on Sunday, Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would see every adult citizen paid more than £1,700 each month, regardless of whether they worked or not.
The plan was rejected by 77% to 23% of the popular vote, and none of the major political parties came out in support of it (the referendum was triggered when an online petition reached 100,000 signatures). Even so, the referendum has sparked lively debate and raised a number of important questions about the future of work. And senior politicians in the UK are interested in learning more details.
Fresh off the press at Nissan, the successful vehicle manufacturer proud of its significant UK workforce and general presence, is news that will no doubt particularly resonate with contractors and other businesspeople.
Thrusting a gentleman called Patrick Keenan into the spotlight, the firm behind the ubiquitous Qashqai SUV has pulled the covers off some interesting stats relating to what criteria car buying and leasing customers prioritise when choosing a particular make and model.
With the population growing and deficits getting bigger at many hospitals up and down the country, all have been told to keep an eye on costs.
Guidance released last year asked hospitals to watch their staffing levels and extend the life of machinery and equipment
But one of the biggest targets in the cost saving exercise has been agency staff.
The spiralling cost of employing agency staff, which is set to cost the NHS £4bn this year, is one of the biggest reasons for the £2.2bn overspend.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has warned that van drivers overloading their vehicles could be negating safety technology advances in the commercial vehicle sector. During 2015, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) weighed 2,381 vans and found that 88.5% were overloaded compared to 84% the previous year.
HMRC has released new guidance on the travel and subsistence (T&S) restrictions that came into force this month and who they will apply to.
Specifically, the new guidance tackles questions relating to the personal provision of services and supervision, direction and control.
We have summarised many of the points and picked out some of the more interesting paragraphs that could be of consequence to contractors.
