Contractors facing new ‘false self-employment’ test following Autumn Statement
Contractors are facing a new ‘false self-employment’ test. Information was included in the Finance Bill 2014, and appears to be part of the anti-avoidance measures announced by Chancellor George Osborne in his Autumn Statement. Roger Sinclair of contractor legal specialist Egos told ContractorCalculator that, if the new rules come into force as they stand in April 2014, all contractors contracting via an agency may have income tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) deducted at source. More...
Contractors may find it “impossible…to do business” with agencies, if Finance Bill is enacted
Contractors could find that contracting via agencies becomes impossible, unless they are prepared to pay tax like employees, says PCG, following the publication of the Finance Bill 2014. Despite being reassured by HMRC that the new anti-avoidance measures in the Autumn Statement wouldn’t target genuine contractors, following its analysis of the proposed legislation, PCG is worried “that proposed changes to pre-existing agency legislation risk cutting off access to the freelance sector for agencies”. More...
Contractors still in the dark about new IR35 regime, despite HMRC’s partial release of statistics
Contractors remain in the dark about the effectiveness of the new IR35 regime introduced by HMRC in May 2012, despite the publication of limited IR35 statistics for 2012-2013. Crucially, the figures fail to split out the tax yield from IR35 investigations opened before the new measures were introduced. So, it is still impossible to determine how effective the business entity tests (BETS) and new specialist teams have been in enforcing IR35 since May 2012. “That’s not just of concern to contractors,” says ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin, “but also to taxpayers and legislators who have a right to know if there’s a reasonable return on investment in funding the taxman’s new IR35 enforcement.” More...
Contracting market still strengthening, as contract rates continue to rise
The UK’s contracting market continued to strengthen during November 2013 according to the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)/KPMG Report on Jobs. Skills shortages still plague both the contract and permanent labour markets, as contract rates rise and contractor availability continues to fall. The ongoing shortage of available contractors and the worsening skills shortages suggest that now is a good time for permanent employees who are considering taking the leap into contracting to take action. More...
IT contractors with data governance, security and mobile skills “hugely in demand”
IT contractors with data governance, cloud and mobile skills are “hugely in demand and right now can command a daily rate of as much as £1,000”. Manpower’s Employment Outlook Survey for the first quarter of 2014 also shows that most other core contracting disciplines, with the exception of construction, are performing well. And the UK’s financial sector appears to be making a slow recovery: “Hiring prospects for Quarter 1 2014 in the finance sub-sector are cautiously optimistic,” notes Manpower. More...
Construction and manufacturing contractors see surge in demand during November
Contractors in the construction and manufacturing sectors experienced a surge in demand during November 2013. In contrast to Manpower’s findings, the latest Reed Job Index shows that construction and property contracts and jobs have grown by 69% year-on-year, driven by the housing market boom. Financial services, energy and engineering saw a slight fall and IT a modest increase in demand during the month, with the big rises coming from transport and automotive. More...
Contractors set to benefit from sustained economic growth and contract creation
Contractors across all disciplines stand to benefit from increasing economic growth, which is driving up rates of contract and job creation. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) Economic Forecast for the fourth quarter of 2013 predicts that the UK economy will reach its pre-recession peak in the middle of 2014. However, it warns that the UK could do much better, as BCC chief economist David Kern explains: “We believe that in 2014 UK GDP will at long last move above its 2008 pre-recession level. But long-term trends show we can do much better.” More...
Contractors have until April 2016 to implement ‘real time’ RTI, as rules are relaxed
Limited company contractors have until April 2016 before they have to start making submissions according to HMRC’s Real Time Information (RTI) initiative when they pay themselves a salary. HMRC has confirmed that, as micro-employers with fewer than nine employees, contracting businesses only have to report Pay As You Earn (PAYE) information once at the end of each month. HMRC claims that 99% of all PAYE records “are now successfully being reported in real time”. More...
Over half of limited company contractors claim good knowledge of IR35, shows survey
Over half (50.9%) of limited company contractors claim to have a good knowledge of IR35, shows a new survey by umbrella company FPS and jobs board ContractJobs.com. However, this figure falls to just 20.4% when asked about the General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR), with 60% of contractors admitting their knowledge of GAAR was poor. Umbrella company contractors seemed equally unaware of key tax and employment law issues affecting them. A worrying 56% claim to have poor knowledge of the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) and nearly four in five (79.2%) know little about pension auto-enrolment. More...
Contractors using offshore loans scheme face crackdown following HMRC tribunal win
Contractors using offshore currency arbitrage loan schemes face a crackdown by HMRC following a first tier tribunal victory by the taxman. Contractor Philip Boyle failed in his appeal against HMRC’s assessments as the tribunal judge found that the tax-free loans the scheme employed were “in substance and reality income from his employment”. An estimated 15,000 contractors and other taxpayers use similar schemes, and new powers provided by the General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR) and measures proposed in the Autumn Statement will enable HMRC to use this victory to target users of similar schemes. More...