Dear NHS workers and contractors,We would first like to start this letter with saying thank you. Thank you for everything you have done, everything you continue to do and everything you will do as you continue to slave under the laborious and hard hours working for our National Health Service.After reading through articles by the BBC, Independent, Daily Mail and so on it is clear that you are seriously having a hard and worrying time working where you do. This past year has thrown … [Read more...]
NHS deems its entire PSC workforce inside IR35
The dozens of PSC contractors who will quit working at a London hospital before next Thursday look like a precursor to a much bigger exodus of such workers from the health service.In fact, despite warnings that 85% of PSCs will quit if decided inside IR35 by their client from April 6th, the NHS has told its entire PSC workforce that it will be caught by the new legislation.In an email seen by ContractorUK, NHS Improvement says “all” locum and agency staff will be “subject to PAYE and on … [Read more...]
Agencies slash PSCs’ pay rates, insist on umbrellas
PSCs are being blocked from staying as ‘Ltd’ companies and applying IR35 because agencies and public bodies want to head off hassle next month of assessing status and withholding tax.Ultimatums are therefore being sent to such PSCs before April 6th, in essence saying ‘convert to a PAYE umbrella, ignore the less-taxing model of being a PSC inside IR35, or be out of work.’“The best option for [you/a PSC], with regard to take-home pay, and us [the agency], from an admin and compliance … [Read more...]
HMRC comes under fire from providers
HM Revenue & Customs’ new Employment Status Service (ESS) tool to determine the IR35 status of public sector contractors has come under fire from contractor service providers. The tool, launched ahead of a new requirement on public sector companies to set the IR35 status of contractors they engage from 6 April, is facing criticism from service providers just a day after its launch. Commenting on the new tool’s launch, Dave Chaplin, CEO and founder of contractor portal ContractorCalculator, … [Read more...]
IR35 inspectors to probe public PSCs retrospectively
Personal service companies deemed inside the public sector’s April 6th off-payroll rules risk having their entire history of contracts probed under IR35, not just those after the date.Most at risk of being investigated under IR35 retrospectively are the ‘pre-April 6th’ contracts the PSC has with the public client, who deems the rules to apply to the PSC ‘post-April 6th.’This was the assessment yesterday from three separate experts on the incoming rules; status advisory Bauer & … [Read more...]
IR35 – are you missing the elephant in the room?
The new “off payroll” rules for workers in the public sector are planned to go live on 6 April.HMRC have issued some guidance with more promised in the next few weeks and the draft legislation has been published but is likely to change before it is finalised.We have an unfinished status tool that won't be ready for public consumption until the end of February.Some public sector organisations are making knee jerk decisions around the status of their contractors and expecting that … [Read more...]
TfL bans PSC contractors ahead of IR35 change
Transport for London has become the first public sector body to react to April’s IR35 reforms by imposing a blanket ban on workers who operate through their own limited company.Under the reforms, such bodies will -- for the first time -- become responsible for the difficult decision of assessing whether their limited company staff (known as ‘PSCs’) are inside IR35.But TfL is heading off both having to use an IR35 digitial tool due to be released by HMRC to help end-users reach such a … [Read more...]
HMRC reveals plans for new public sector IR35 legislation—industry responds
This Monday saw the release of the HMRC’s draft finance bill, detailing the reforms as to how the IR35 legislation must be operated in the public sector from April 2017.There have been strong reactions from industry bodies to the Government’s new ‘Draft provisions for Finance Bill 2017’, nearly 400 pages of new tax legislation setting out the draft provisions for technical consultation, including changes to National Insurance contributions, clampdown on salary sacrifice contracts for new car … [Read more...]
Do you operate within the Public Sector?
Last Monday saw the release of the HMRC’s draft finance bill, detailing the reforms as to how the IR35 legislation must be operated in the public sector from April 2017.There have been strong reactions from industry bodies to the Government’s new ‘Draft provisions for Finance Bill 2017’, nearly 400 pages of new tax legislation setting out the draft provisions for technical consultation, including changes to National Insurance contributions, clampdown on salary sacrifice contracts for new car … [Read more...]
HMRC, are the gloves off? Is there a storm brewing?
Offshore scheme users face requirement to notify HMRC. Contractors can have their say on their incoming requirement to notify the taxman if they use an offshore structure with evasion “characteristics” which its creator failed to declare.Under proposals published last week, the parties behind such “complex offshore arrangements” structures must inform them to HMRC and provide a list of clients using it.But if the creator (or promoter) fails to declare the arrangements -- which the … [Read more...]