Intermediaries legislation does not apply

Atholl House Productions Ltd was the personal service company of Kaye Adams who provided services for the BBC and other media organisations. She also appeared on ITV’s Loose Women Sky and wrote columns for several national newspapers. She carried out corporate events such as hosting awards evenings and giving presentations.

During 2015-16 and 2016-17 she presented a daily morning programme The Kaye Adams Show on BBC Radio Scotland. HMRC claimed that for those years although she was not an employee of the BBC the intermediaries legislation applied so that the fees her company received from the BBC should be treated as employment income with the company obliged to account for tax and National Insurance under PAYE.

The First-tier Tribunal allowed the taxpayer’s appeal so HMRC appealed to the Upper Tribunal. It said the tribunal had erred in law and misapplied Autoclenz v Belcher...