Contractors face potential tax avoidance crackdown from future government
Contractors will be in the sights of any future government as both Labour and the Conservative party have announced plans to crack down on tax avoidance. Labour has specifically said that it intends to target false self-employment. Worryingly, this suggests that a future Labour government could try to bolster the IR35 legislation introduced by then Chancellor Gordon Brown in 2000, and build on the false self-employment legislation created by the Coalition. More...
Contractor rates rise as a result of worsening skills shortages
Contractor rates have risen across all core contracting disciplines as a result of increasing skills shortages, with candidate availability worsening at the “fastest pace since last October”. The latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)/KPMG Report on Jobs also highlights commentators’ fears that the skills shortages could undermine the economic recovery. “Recruiters are struggling with industry-wide skills shortages, as demand for talent continues to outstrip the number of candidates seeking work,” notes Bernard Brown, partner and head of business services at KPMG. “This pervasive skills shortage could put the brakes on economic growth if it continues unabated.” More...
Contractors benefit from pre-election surge in hiring, says contractor recruiter
Contractors are benefitting from a surge in hiring despite the uncertainty being caused by the General Election. The latest Recruitment Index from contractor recruiter Venn Group shows that financial, accounting and IT contractors in particular are being hired to help private sector organisations complete annual budgets and year-end results. “After years of austerity, businesses are finally investing heavily in future-proofing their systems and processes,” says Venn Group director Robert Bowyer. “The fact that overall vacancies are up, despite election uncertainty, indicates that senior interim appointments will continue to surge after May.” More...
Public sector contractors to see Contingent Labour 1 replacement by June 2016
Contractors with central government clients can expect a new hiring framework rolled out the by the Cabinet Office by June 2016, when the existing framework expires. Computer Weekly’s Bryan Glick writes that the Cabinet Office is considering a “’G-Cloud-like’ alternative in a deal that could be worth £2.7bn”. The existing framework, Contingent Labour 1, is currently managed by Capita and covers all of the government’s contingent labour needs, including contractors from all core contracting disciplines. More...
Contractors making genuine tax return mistakes forced to pay fines by HMRC
Contractors who handle their own tax paperwork and who make genuine mistakes are increasingly charged penalties by the taxman as if their mistakes were deliberate. According to the Telegraph’s Richard Dyson, “accountants have suspected such a ‘hardening’ of attitudes at HMRC for some time” as part of a wider HMRC revenue generating exercise. Experts have told Dyson that HMRC is “under pressure to increase revenue” and as a result has blurred “the line between different behaviours”. More...
Tech contractors see Dutch contract market expand by a quarter year-on-year
Contractors working in the technical sectors, such as IT and telecoms, have seen contract opportunities in Holland grow by 24% during March 2015, when compared to the same period in 2014. Contractor recruiters in the country reported a 21% increase in billings during the last 12 months. These figures alongside an unbroken 16 month growth period suggest that the Netherlands’ contract market offers opportunities for UK-based contractors seeking work elsewhere in Europe. The industrial sector, which will generate work for contractors across all core disciplines, also grew by 10% year-on-year. More...
Contracting opportunities across all core disciplines grow in Ireland
Contracting opportunities in Ireland have increased by third year-on-year, led by steep rises in demand in core contracting disciplines such as finance, human resources (HR) and engineering. As a result, skills shortages are growing and a fifth of candidates are looking for new roles.”The sectors that have seen the greatest uplift nationally are financial services, HR, multilingual and engineering,” highlights Morgan McKinley Ireland operations director Bryan Hyland. “In addition IT has remained consistently buoyant across both contract and permanent roles.” More...
Oil and gas contractors seeking new contracts outside of the UK
Nearly three quarters of oil and gas contractors based in the UK are seeking new contracts outside of the region. A Rigzone survey confirms that contractors lack confidence in the UK’s oil and gas industry and are seeking more secure prospects elsewhere. “Oil and gas professionals are highly mobile,” says Rigzone’s international managing director Mark Guest. “If assurances cannot be given by the industry about the mid-to long-term career opportunities in the UK’s off-shore market, our survey indicates that many professionals may simply look for work elsewhere.” More...
Contractor accountant and tax adviser key deadlines published by HMRC
Contractors who prefer to manage their own tax and accountancy affairs can now access the latest dates and deadlines for the 2015-2016 financial year from HMRC. The deadlines include the usual fixed Pay As You Earn (PAYE) payment dates alongside the monthly repeat dates for tax events such as construction industry scheme (CIS) and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) payments, More...
Contractor tax avoidance schemes defeated by HMRC in tax tribunals
Three more tax avoidance schemes promoted by NT Advisors have been defeated by HMRC in tax tribunals. FrancoisB writes on AccountingWeb that these three wins bring the total of those recently lost by NT Advisors to nine. One scheme was thrown out by the judge before HMRC was even required to make “substantive arguments”. Financial secretary to the Treasury warned that contractors should “think twice before trying to abuse tax reliefs to avoid paying their fir share of tax.” More...