Contractors unwilling victims of Westminster’s “anti-tax avoidance arms race”
Contractors alongside other businesses are the victims of a Westminster-led “anti-tax avoidance arms race”, says Conservative MP John Redwood. AccountancyAge’s Calum Fuller reports that Redwood told a New City Initiative meeting that the impact could be a “chilling effect on genuinely commercial activities”. Redwood’s comments follow Treasury proposals to tackle disguised employment in partnerships and force the users of tax avoidance schemes under investigation by HMRC to pay tax up front. More...
Technology contractors enjoying “best growth performance for almost a decade”
Technology contractors, and those with clients in the tech sector, are benefitting from the “steepest expansion in business activity in almost a decade”. This is according to the latest KPMG/Markit Tech Monitor UK Report, which also reports that 44% of UK tech firms plan to increase headcount over the coming year. “The sector showed…solid rates of job creation, well above the rates in other sectors of the economy,” explains KPMG head of technology Tudor Aw. More...
Contractors more attractive now that clients’ largest tax bill is from employees
Contractor clients, the UK’s largest companies, now pay out more in employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs) than on any other tax, making contractors an even more attractive option when hiring talent. PricewaterhouseCooper’s (PwC) 2013 100 Group Tax & Economic Impact Survey Results shows that the overall corporation tax take is declining due to the UK’s lowering corporate tax rates and increased employment. Oil and gas and banking remain the largest overall contributors of corporate taxes. More...
Contractors using tax avoidance schemes under investigation may be forced to pay tax up front
Contractors who are using tax avoidance schemes that are being investigated by HMRC may be forced to pay tax up front, if proposed legislation becomes law. A new Treasury consultation announced in the Autumn Statement, Tackling marketed tax avoidance, proposes that registered tax avoidance scheme users pay any tax they might have saved from the scheme up front, while HMRC goes through the process of investigating and closing down the scheme. More...
Marketing, IT and finance are the contracting disciplines in the UK’s top ten jobs
Core contracting disciplines are in the UK’s top ten jobs forecast to see the greatest increase in demand over the next two years. They include marketing and sales managers, software professionals, financial managers and chartered secretaries, plus information and communications technology (ICT) managers. This is according to a new survey by CareerBuilder UK, reported by Staffing Industry Analysts. More...
Contractors to benefit from improving economic conditions
Contractors look set to benefit from improved economic conditions as businesses hire flexible workers as a low-risk solution to providing additional capacity. The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) Growth Indicator shows the fastest economic growth since September 2007. “A picture is unfolding of a real upsurge in output across much of the UK economy,” notes CBI chief policy director Katja Hall. “Many firms in many sectors are feeling brighter about their prospects than they have for a long time, showing the recovery is gaining traction.” More...
Entertainment contractors forced onto the payroll face 25% pay cuts
Contractors working for the BBC are being forced onto the payroll, resulting in pay cuts of up to 25%. According to the Telegraph’s Sam Marden, leading talent including Jeremy Paxman and Fiona Bruce “will have to accept a significantly reduced salary in return for staff benefits such as holiday pay and pension contributions”. The presenters’ agents told Marden that they “will not take this lying down”. More...
Contractors and other businesses “more willing” to challenge HMRC
Contractors and other businesses that are unhappy with potentially unlawful decisions handed out by HMRC are more likely to challenge the taxman with judicial reviews. Out-Law reports that law firm Pinsent Masons has obtained figures showing that there were 51 applications for a review during 2012, up 31% on the previous year’s number of 39. “Judicial review is a remedy of last resort, so this significant jump in the number of applications shows just how contentious some of HMRC's decisions have become,” says Pinsent Masons’ tax expert Jason Collins. More...
Contractors increasingly distanced from vulnerable workers in Lords’ evidence
Contractors are being increasingly distanced from other groups of flexible workers as the House of Lords Select Committee on Personal Service Companies (PSCs) inquiry continues to take evidence. The latest set of witnesses included the unions and TaxAssist, who gave offshore umbrellas a beating in their testimony. The Confederation of British Industry and Institute of Directors firmly told peers that PSCs would flourish regardless of their tax position. More...
IR35 heavily criticised in Lords’ written evidence
IR35 has been heavily criticised by many of those giving evidence to the PSC inquiry. Even the minority who believe that IR35 is fit for purpose mostly lambast HMRC for its poor efforts at enforcement. The ACCA branded the tax as “an additional unnecessary complexity in an already unfriendly tax system”. And many contributors highlighted that it is the “structural inconsistency” of UK taxation that is the root of the problem. More...