Be prepared

KEY POINTS

• IR35 tests.
• Deemed employment.
• Are all contracts within IR35?
• Set up a spreadsheet.
• Do the calculations in good time.

Despite prolonged objections to the IR35 regime from professional bodies and other organisations and a coalition government promise in 2010 to review the legislation HMRC’s only concession currently is that they will provide fuller guidance on its operation.

IR35 was one of the issues that was referred to the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) and hopes were raised when its report was published prior to the 2011 Budget.

The report contained two alternative recommendations for the way forward until more substantial changes might be considered.

The recommendation that caught the eye was the suspension of IR35 with the intention that it might be permanently abolished. It came as...