A team of thirty personal service company (PSC) contractors have agreed to abandon an already overrunning NHS IT project, after the Guy’s & St Thomas (GSTT) hospital trust said that the contractors would be declared ‘inside IR35’ from April.
IR35 Articles
marketing | 24 February 2017
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marketing | 18 January 2017
/ / / / / /As you may already be aware the Autumn Statement delivered a number of measures which effect the contracting sector including changes to IR35 and the VAT Flat Rate Scheme. The government has published a new policy document detailing the changes to IR35 and off-payroll working rules for public sector workers. View document here.
The Changes
PSC or “Limited Company” Contractors operating in the public sector will no longer get a say on whether or not the IR35 ‘intermediaries’ legislation’ applies to them. Consequently if they chose to continue being paid via their limited company, the contractor’s intermediary (Agency / Public sector body) will have to agree to deduct the appropriate TAX and National insurance as the ‘fee payer’.
marketing | 9 December 2016
/ / / /The government has published a new policy document detailing the changes to IR35 and off-payroll working rules for public sector contractors.
Although there weren’t any major shocks in the changes, which come into effect for personal service company (PSC) contractors next April, we thought it beneficial to publish a full preview of the rules so that customers can start to prepare for the changes.
marketing | 9 September 2016
/ / / /The Office of Tax Simplification has become the latest in a long line of organisations to criticise the government’s new IR35 proposals, which relate to contractors in the public sector.
marketing | 13 July 2016
/ / / /Businesses have slammed some proposed changes to the Intermediaries Legislation that would mean that businesses were responsible for determining when the IR35 laws applied, instead of a contractors Public Service Company (PSC).
Businesses that use a lot of temporary staff, raised concerns that the new rules could be costly, burdensome and constraining. These businesses also stressed that it could affect their relationship with temporary workers.
marketing | 26 January 2017
/ / / / /It’s a question that many limited company contractors will be asking in the coming months as impending changes threaten some of the biggest financial advantages that come along with limited company status.
For public sector contractors operating through personal service companies (PSCs) the changes could prove catastrophic.
The big shift concerns the IR35 status of public sector contractors – specifically, who judges a contractor’s IR35 status. From April, the responsibility for judging IR35 status will pass from the individual contractor to the hiring public sector body or agency charged with recruitment.
As a result, more contractors will be ‘caught out’ by the IR35 rules. Anyone ‘caught out’ by the changes will be reclassified by HMRC as being in ‘disguised employment.’ This means they will be taxed as if they were regular employees.
marketing | 16 December 2016
/ / / /From April, contractors working in the public sector will lose the right to determine their own IR35 status. As a consequence, thousands of PSC contractors could see their take home pay reduced.
In many cases it is feared that the legitimate contractors will be caught out by the reforms and unfairly end up on inside-IR35 contract and paying a heavy price for it.
There are, however, some ways that contractors can try to avoid IR35 and, if inevitable, mitigate the impact of an imposed inside-IR35 contract.
marketing | 31 October 2016
/ / / /A new feature in FreeAgent will now calculate your submissions and tax liability for you on a monthly basis.
Here's how to use it
Go on the work tab and create a new project.
marketing | 22 August 2016
/ / / /Industry insiders have responded negatively to a consultation on the government’s latest IR35 proposal.
The proposal would see public sector organisations made responsible for determining the IR35 status of a contractor. Practically, this means that many more Personal Service Company contractors will be caught out by the IR35 legislation.
The contractors would be forced to pay tax as if they were traditional full-time employees, without enjoying any of the same employment rights and benefits.
Many inside and outside the industry see this as unfair. There is also a large amount of concern about some of the proposal’s unintended consequences.
The Freelancer & Contractor Services Association (FCSA) warned against leaving the decision to parties that will struggle to make an accurate IR35 assessment.
marketing | 3 June 2016
/ / / / /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.
