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It’s no secret that the UK is short of HGV drivers. But while a combination of Brexit and Covid-19 have exacerbated the issue, there’s another reason behind it: IR35 tax changes.

However, IR35 doesn’t just affect lorry drivers, it affects contractors throughout the UK. Here’s what it is, what it means for all ‘off-payroll’ employees and why it’s made a precarious situation even worse.

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What is IR35?

IR35 is basically a set of tax rules.

The rules aim to weed out what’s called ‘disguised employment’. This happens when someone works as a contractor (for instance, through their own limited company) but fulfils the role as any other permanent employee hired by the company would.

Disguised employment often happens because of the tax benefits it brings.

For employers, it means avoiding National Insurance (NI) contributions. It also means employers don’t have to provide regular staff benefits (like pension contributions).

There are benefits for the contractor too. Limited companies are ‘tax efficient’ partly because you take home less pay (and therefore pay less tax). You can then bulk out your income through dividends which are exempt from National Insurance.  

The government hopes that IR35 stamps out these practices in order to raise more revenue through otherwise ‘lost’ taxes.

How does IR35 work?

To distinguish between disguised employment and genuine self-employment, there are two types of status within IR35.

1. Inside IR35

This is where you’re considered an employee. For example, you use equipment provided by the company you’re contracted to. It’s also recognised as working on a rolling contract basis rather than completing one-off projects for a range of clients.  

If you’re considered to be working inside IR35, you and the company you contract for are subject to all the usual taxes, such as Income Tax and National Insurance.

Outside IR35

This is considered genuine self-employment. This is broadly accepted as being in control of where and when you work, and usually for more than one client at a time.

It can also mean using your own tools and equipment in order to complete the work.  

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So, how does IR35 affect HGV drivers?

IR35 affects HGV drivers for a couple of reasons.

The first, is that many are (or were) employed by agencies as freelancers or contractors. But, these drivers would use agency lorries and be given specific work schedules.

This means the drivers fall inside IR35 rules and (technically) work for their agencies as they have no control over their schedules and aren’t driving their own lorries.

As it stands, these agencies work to tiny margins (around 2% to 3%). Some agencies have started to employ drivers inside IR35 and provide all the workplace benefits that go with it. For others, it’s become an unsustainable business model.

Secondly, for drivers, it means losing the flexibility of contract work and being forced into employment terms they may not be happy with (including less take-home pay).

Research by the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE) seems to support this. In its study, IPSE found that only 17% of contract drivers would actually choose to seek an employed role.

Half of contractors planned to stop working in the UK while 24% said they would try and find work in another sector.

A reasonably large minority (12%) said they would stop working completely and 11% planned to retire instead.

Not only that, the ins and outs of IR35 are complex and often subject to interpretation. This has made many agencies and firms worry about getting it wrong and facing penalties as it’s down to them to work out whether someone is working inside or outside the new rules.

All in all, IR35 is part of a bigger and more complicated picture. Yet there are few doubts that it’s contributed to the HGV crisis that shows little sign of getting better anytime soon.

By Anne East

Source: The Motley Fool

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Over half (56%) of contractors are planning a move to permanent employment due to the IR35 reforms which came into effect earlier this year.

The study by leading small business insurance provider Simply Business – which spoke to over 250 contractors – also revealed that 91% of contractors say the IR35 reforms will impact their business. Of those, two thirds (55%) say it will have a significant impact.

With the IR35 reform proving a costly headache, half (50%) believe the changes should be scrapped altogether, and two in five (38%) say the changes need rethinking.

As the country looks to bounce back from the impact of the pandemic, a staggering 98% of contractors believe the reform will have a negative impact on economic recovery, with two in five (40%) believing a less flexible workforce – as more contractors go permanent – will harm the UK.

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It comes as previous research by Simply Business revealed one third (32%) of contractors expect to miss out on over £20,000 in take-home pay as a result of the reform – while one in five (20%) expect to miss out on between £10,000 and £20,000 each.

Contractors form a crucial part of the five million self-employed people in the UK. Kevin Neal and Bill Cunnew are just two out of thousands of contractors in the UK considering the long-term effect and shattering financial loss surrounding the changes to IR35.

Kevin Neal, IT contractor comments: “The IR35 reform means I have lost an eighth of my pay to tax, fees and pension, which will have a substantial impact on my income. I feel persecuted for doing nothing more than trying to earn a living. I pay my taxes, I always have. The Inland Revenue should focus on those who do not instead of making sweeping changes that affect everyone.”

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Bill Cunnew, IT contractor notes: “I contracted for 26 years through my own limited company, I earned good rates but due to IR35 the banking and insurance sector has just stopped taking LTD company contractors. After one year out of work I was forced to take a permanent job on a lot less money, as a result I am now paying about 25% of the tax I paid as a contractor.”

Alan Thomas, UK CEO at Simply Business, comments: “Six months on, the IR35 reforms have impacted countless contractors across the UK, and have seen many miss out on a substantial part of their take-home pay. Contractors are a vital part of the economy, and with one in three expecting to miss out on over £20,000, it’s no surprise to learn that more than half intend to make the switch to permanent employment.

“We know the last 18 months have been especially difficult – many of whom were left without government support – and that despite IR35’s delay, simple, easy-to-understand guidance was difficult to find.

“Contractors should be seen as an incredibly important part of our workforce. SMEs, self-employed and freelancers in the UK contribute trillions of pounds to the economy, and will be crucial to our recovery. Now more than ever it’s vital that we support our self-employed communities – this is why we’ve launched a free IR35 hub to offer guidance to contractors affected by the reform.”

Source: LLB

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The government finally introduced IR35 reform in the private sector six months ago. At the time, a Simply Business survey revealed that nearly a third of contractors expected reform to cost them more than £20,000.

Medium-sized businesses don’t have a formal IR35 process in place

According to a survey from tax advisory firm BDO, more than half of medium-sized businesses don’t have a formal process in place for assessing a contractor’s employment status (small businesses are exempted from the change).

55 per cent of these firms said that they’ll worry about IR35 once their business gets back to normal after Covid-19.

But despite HMRC’s ‘light touch’ on compliance for the first 12 months of private sector reform, BDO warns that businesses should adapt quickly: “Businesses who do not comply will still need to pay tax and could face significant penalties. HMRC has shown that it will not turn a blind eye to non-compliance”.

Contractors will pay more in tax next year

The government is hiking National Insurance by 1.25 per cent for employees, employers, and the self-employed from April 2022.

The government has also announced that it’ll be hiking the dividend tax rate by 1.25 percentage points from April 2022, too.

These increases stack up more challenges for a sector already struggling with IR35 reform.

Matt Fryer tells Contractor UK that umbrella company contractors will be hit twice as hard by the National Insurance hike, “where the contract rate includes the employer costs which is predominantly employer’s NIC.”

HMRC is checking ‘payroll compliance’

HMRC has promised that it won’t launch enquiries into personal service companies (PSCs) unless it suspects that they’re deliberately breaking the rules.

But Nigel Nordone explains for Contractor UK that two contractors he supports are currently undergoing PAYE compliance checks. This involves HMRC checking payroll to clarify how contractors are paying themselves.

Nordone explains that this could give HMRC a back-door to investigating IR35 compliance, without breaking its promise to refrain from launching enquiries unless foul play is suspected.

Even government departments can’t get IR35 right

According to FT Adviser, three government departments have been given huge bills by HMRC for not applying IR35 rules correctly. While private sector IR35 reform was only introduced in April 2021, the public sector has been grappling with the changes since 2017.

• HM Courts & Tribunal Service paid £12.5 million to HMRC in 2020-21 relating to incorrect status determinations between 6 April 2017 and 5 April 2020
• the Department for Work and Pensions paid £87.9 million to HMRC in 2020-21 for historic errors from 2017-2020, although a liability for 2020-21 was agreed too
• the Home Office paid HMRC £29.5 million for incorrect assessments, as well as £4 million for ‘careless’ application of IR35 rules

Seb Maley questions who might be next, adding: “given that HMRC’s fundamentally flawed IR35 tool, CEST, was used to decide the IR35 status of contract workers, I’m not in the least bit surprised that mistakes have been made.”

He urges businesses to make sure IR35 compliance is high in their priorities.

Roles can morph from inside to outside IR35 – so be careful

Contractor UK quotes an IT contractor as saying that one client they were hoping to work with changed the opportunity from inside to outside IR35 almost overnight.

They explained: “Possibly [due to not many candidates going forward], they might have changed the working practices, and then reassessed the contract. But I wouldn’t hold my breath on the [change to working practices] actually.”

If you notice any opportunities changing like this, Graham Webber, a director at WTT Consulting, urges caution: “a simple re-label to ‘outside’ is going to be a hard hurdle to overcome should HMRC [subsequently] ask any questions”.

CEST users are being shown an ‘undetermined’ status

Finally, the Express has reported on HMRC’s CEST data released in June 2021. CEST – or Check Employment Status for Tax – is HMRC’s tool that aims to provide a view on a particular worker’s employment status.

Both contractors and the clients they work for can use the tool to help them work out IR35 status.

But HMRC’s June data shows that 210,100 contractors from November 2019 to May 2021 were shown an ‘undetermined’ status, which suggests that many contractors are still not getting clarity over their status.

The Express further reports on a discrepancy in the data, quoting Matt Fryer: “According to CEST data, 49-56 per cent of all contractor roles clearly fall outside of IR35, with another 19-21 per cent in a grey area that the tool is unable to determine.

“Market data from Jobfeed, however, indicates that only 26 per cent of contractor roles are currently being advertised as outside IR35 (w/c June 7).”

Fryer questions where all of these outside IR35 roles are, suggesting that businesses might not have faith in the processes they’ve put in place to determine IR35 status – linking back to the first point in this article.

By Sam Bromley

Source: Simply Business

More than half of the UK’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have not put in formal processes to adhere to changes to the IR35 rules, according to a new survey.

A survey from advisory firm BDO found 55 per cent of SMEs using contract workers say they will worry about IR35 reforms when businesses return to a more normal footing post-Covid.

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The IR35 rule changes came into effect five months ago, meaning all these firms are now susceptible to investigations from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

HMRC has said there will be a so-called soft landing in the first year for those who do not comply with the new rules, but that a taskforce will soon be launched to clamp down on tax avoidance.

The IR35 changes force companies treat self-employed contractors as employees for tax purposes, without having to provide standard employment rights such as statutory sick, maternity and redundancy pay.

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John Chaplin, employment tax partner at BDO, said : “Businesses who do not comply will still need to pay tax and could face significant penalties. HMRC has shown that it will not turn a blind eye to non-compliance, so businesses who do not have a formal IR35 process in place should immediately rethink their affairs.

“At a time when ESG is becoming increasingly important for businesses, there is an expectation for decision makers to come forward and show that good governance and tax compliance is important to them.

“Failing to comply with IR35 certainly shows weak governance and can prove to be an expensive mistake. Unless a business can show that it has taken ‘reasonable care’ over its IR35 responsibilities, penalties can rack up pretty quickly.”

By Stefan Boscia

Source: City AM

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IR35 tax complications continue to hit freelancers and contractors and while the Government aims to mitigate this, its tools prove to be imperfect. Analysis of recent data from HMRC found discrepancies in the private contractor industry.

HMRC released data on its Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool usage in late June, which was created to help people find out if they should be classed as employed or self-employed for IR35 tax purposes. The results of this data showed thousands of self-employed workers are still struggling with the changes introduced in April 2021.

The CEST data showed that while 499,974 were deemed outside IR35, and 308,176 were deemed inside, 210,100 users were categorized as “undetermined”.

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At the time, many experts argued this showed the tax changes were too complicated to manage, even for the Government itself.

On top of this, Matt Fryer, the Head of Legal Services at Brookson Legal, identified a worrying discrepancy.

Mr Fryer said: “There is a huge discrepancy between the CEST usage data and the number of private sector contractor jobs being advertised as outside of IR35.

“As demand for skilled labour begins to outstrip supply, hiring businesses that are unable to guarantee outside IR35 status for these contractors will struggle to recruit the talent they need for economic recovery.

“According to CEST data, 49-56 percent of all contractor roles clearly fall outside of IR35, with another 19-21 percent in a grey area that the tool is unable to determine.

“Market data from Jobfeed, however, indicates that only 26 percent of contractor roles are currently being advertised as outside IR35 (w/c June 7).

“This is a worker’s market, with REC reporting on rapid rises in hiring and intent to hire for temporary roles, coupled with a shortage of skilled talent.

“As the economy picks up, businesses that require skilled contractors will need to clearly demonstrate that they can provide roles outside of IR35 to beat the competition.

“The question is: why are more of these roles not being advertised already?

“One answer might be that many businesses do not have faith in the solutions that they put in place to meet the deadline.

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“This is where we will see hirers who have planned well begin to reap the rewards of their diligence.”

Struggling freelancers may be able to receive support through SEISS at the moment, as claims for the fifth and final set of grants can be made up until September 30, 2021.

To be eligible for these grants, claimants must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership.

They must also have traded throughout the 2019 to 2021 tax years.

Eligible claimants must also have submitted their 2019 to 2020 tax return on, or before, 2 March 2, 2021, have trading profits of no more than £50,000 and are at least equal to their non-trading income.

For the fifth grant, claimants will also need to provide details on their turnover figures so the Government can calculate how much money should be paid out.

Claims are made through the Government’s website.

Following this, the Government will pay grants within six working days, so long as claimants are eligible.

HMRC should only be contacted if payments do not arrive within 10 working days.

By CONNOR COOMBE-WHITLOCK

Source: Express

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The federal government has printed particulars of the motion it might take to rid the contractor market of non-compliant umbrella corporations and mortgage scheme promoters, as a part of its on-going efforts to clampdown on tax avoidance.

On the again of a session the federal government ran between 23 March 2021 and 1 June 2021, the federal government has printed a set of proposals that might see it repurpose current laws and move new legal guidelines that might give HM Income & Customs (HMRC) extra powers to sort out tax avoidance scheme promoters.

Authorities estimates counsel there are between “20-to-30” promoters in operation who’re concerned in advertising and marketing mass-market tax avoidance schemes, and the overwhelming majority (98%) use disguised remuneration methods to allow contributors to minimise their tax liabilities.

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Contributors in these sorts of schemes might be paid partially for the work they do in non-taxable loans or annuities, as a method of bolstering their take residence pay, as they solely pay tax on a comparatively small quantity of the general sum they obtain. Such schemes are typically run as offshore worker profit trusts, however the operators of them normally depend on UK-based, non-complaint umbrella corporations to onboard contractors who might or might not know that they’ve been enrolled in a disguised remuneration scheme.

The proposals put ahead by the federal government search to deal with that by giving HMRC renewed powers to shutdown promoters and curb tax losses by making it more durable for these entities to make use of their off-shore states to cover their belongings, for instance.

Source: Technical Ripon

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Contractors have described a UK union’s call to ban umbrella companies as unworkable, leading to a greater void in the under-regulated market and making outsourced workers vulnerable.

The Trade Union Congress (TUC), a powerful association of British unions, said yesterday UK government should abolish umbrella companies to employ agency workers in light of what it sees as abuse of workers’ rights and financial fraud.

Frances O’Grady, the TUC’s general secretary, said: “These scandalous workplace practices have no place in modern Britain. But our inadequate regulations let dodgy umbrella companies off the hook – allowing them to act with impunity.”

“Enough is enough. It’s time for ministers to ban umbrella companies, without delay,” she added.

While umbrella companies have come under fire from lawyers and employment campaigners who want to see better regulation of the market, they criticised the call for an outright ban, arguing it could lead to more bad practices and exploitation of workers.

Campaigners say umbrella companies have mushroomed as firms and temp agencies avoid directly hiring contractors judged to fall within the IR35 “off-payroll working” tax law. They take the untaxed income from an employer or agency and run the payroll, hand over the taxes and national insurance to the UK’s tax collection agency, HMRC, and pass the net pay to the contractor. Among the alleged dubious practices used by some umbrella companies are attempts to impede holiday pay or entitlement and adding hidden fees to payslips.

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But the Freelancer and Contractor Services Association (FCSA) said an outright ban could be harmful.

It said the TUC’s move was a “knee-jerk reaction” and the suggestions that recruitment agencies should provide contingent labour was misguided.

The FCSA argued that contractors may move from contract to contract on almost a weekly basis with day rates for their work varying on each contract. While it was impractical for recruitment firms to manage so many variable-rate contracts, their specialism lay in finding people for jobs, it said.

“Recruitment companies are simply not equipped to properly manage and employ such a varying workforce. Hence the existence of umbrella firms. To simply suggest that umbrella firms be banned is not workable and ultimately will disadvantage the freelance worker.”

Meanwhile, campaigners Rebecca Seeley Harris, chair of the Employment Status Forum, and James Poyser, CEO of inniAccounts, have argued for better regulation of the sector rather than an outright ban on umbrella companies.

Seeley Harris said: “The TUC report on the umbrella industry emphasises the need for the market to be properly reviewed and regulated. However, an immediate outright ban would be very complex to implement overnight because of the legislative timetable and the time companies would need to unravel arrangements.”

She said she had discussed better regulation with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy after submitting a draft policy entitled “Umbrella companies – Call for Regulation” to Jesse Norman, the financial secretary to the Treasury, and Paul Scully, the Parliamentary under secretary of state in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Having failed to secure amendments to the Finance Bill in May, she argued it would take considerable time to introduce it because of the legislative formalities and timetable for the Spending Review.

The government has proposed a “Single Enforcement Body” to tackle modern slavery, enforce the minimum wage, and protect agency workers, including those employed by umbrella companies.

But campaigners argued there was a lack of detail in the proposals. Poyser said: “Overall, there still remains a long way to go in the battle for workers’ rights, despite the announcement of a single enforcement body, which is why we will continue to press the government to work with us on the policy we have written and submitted.”

Source: The Register

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