Limited company contractors could be facing further compliance activity following Autumn Statement
Limited company contractors could be the target of a fresh wave of ‘disguised employee’ compliance activity following Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement. He says the government will “clamp down further on tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning, including by preventing employment intermediaries from disguising employment as self-employment to avoid tax”. PCG’s director of policy and public affairs Simon McVicker warns: “False self-employment is wrong but the government must take care that in attempting to tackle it they do not affect genuine freelancers and their clients. The last time government tried to legislate in this area we were left with IR35.” More...
Energy and engineering contractors have greater cause to welcome Autumn Statement
Contractors in the oil and gas, energy, engineering and construction disciplines may have greater cause to welcome the Autumn Statement’s tax breaks to promote shale gas development. “This will be good news for the entire onshore gas recruitment supply chain, from agencies themselves through to the contractors and freelancers who have the expertise to help plug the UK’s engineering skills gap,” believes Parasol managing director Derek Kelly. More...
Contractors should be facing 20,000 IR35 investigations each year, Lords told
Limited company contractors should be facing 20,000 investigations by 3,000 HMRC staff if IR35 is to be properly enforced. This was the view of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants’ Jason Piper speaking at the second evidence session of the House of Lords Select Committee on Personal Services Companies. The message from the six witnesses so far was that IR35 is too complex and impossible to police with the current resources allocated by HMRC. More...
Contractors urged to get involved on Small Business Saturday
Contractors and freelancers are being urged by PCG to get involved in Small Business Saturday on 7 December 2013. According to PCG: “Small Business Saturday is the perfect opportunity for independent professionals to highlight and celebrate their work and the contribution they make to the UK economy.” PCG chief executive Chris Bryce believes that contractors and freelancers should use Saturday’s celebration to remind Britain that freelancers are small businesses too. More...
Core contracting disciplines to benefit from new UK infrastructure plan
Contractors across the core contracting disciplines of engineering, IT, energy, oil and gas and interim management look set to benefit from the National Infrastructure Plan launched by the government this week. BBC News reports that the plan features an estimated £375bn investment into energy, transport, communications and water projects. The size and complexity of many of the projects will require significant multi-disciplinary project teams of contractors for implementation. More...
Contractors across manufacturing, construction and services enjoy ongoing growth
Contractors working for clients in the three main areas of the economy – manufacturing, construction and services – continued to experience growth during November 2013. The Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for Manufacturing, Construction and Services all show continued activity growth and increased hiring, resulting in new contracts. More...
Contractors face HMRC investigations via Google Street View
Contractors suspected of tax evasion may find HMRC inspectors using Google Street View as the latest tool in the taxman’s armoury. According to a report by accountants UHY Hacker Young, HMRC is using the online tool to identify where there is evidence that a taxpayer is living beyond their means. Inspectors are looking for several expensive cars on the drive, or an expensive property that could not be accounted for by the taxpayer’s declared earnings. More...
Contract growth underpinned by medium-sized businesses (MSBs), says CBI
The continued growth in new contract opportunities has been underpinned by the contributions made by the UK’s ‘Mittelstand’ of medium-sized businesses (MSBs). New research by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) shows that, “Despite only accounting for 1.8% of the UK private sector, MSBs have been responsible forcreating a huge number of jobs between March 2010 and March 2013”. The CBI is calling on the government to provide greater support for MSBs to maintain this growth in hiring. More...
Contractors with second homes warned by tax body to carefully time sales and purchases
Contractors with second homes and who do not want to pay more tax as a result of changes to the Principal Private Residence Relief (PPR) rules may wish to change the timings of any property sales. The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) is warning that the changes will particularly affect those struggling to sell a second home if their local property market is in a slump. More...
IT contractors can secure NHS assignments with the help of a new online resource
IT contractors seeking to gain access to NHS contracts can access a new online resource, NHS People, provided by specialist NHS IT recruiter max20. The new online portal is designed to provide access to new contracts and to insights from NHS hiring managers. “I see our new online portal as being a synthesis of a jobsite, LinkedIn, a magazine and community for anyone seeking to work within healthcare IT,” explains Don Tomlinson, managing director of max20. More...