HMRC’s new IR35 proposals would leave contractors with continuing uncertainties over their status
Contractors face being segmented into three broad banks of high, low and medium risk by HMRC, according to the minutes of the first IR35 Forum, which was held on 6 May 2011. HMRC has proposed a segmentation strategy to categorise contractors into these risk bands, but refuses to reveal the criteria it will use to determine risk. This would leave contractors and their advisers in the dark and takes the sector no further forward from the current situation. More…
ECR Consulting ruling reveals the many factors that kept contractor Elaine Richardson outside IR35
Contractor Elaine Richardson was found to be outside IR35 according to all the key tests of employment, concluded the First-Tier Tribunal Judge David Porter in his ruling on the ECT Consulting Case. Despite evidence from the client suggesting that Richardson was controlled, the tribunal concluded that she was too highly qualified to be told how to do her work. And HMRC’s claims that Richardson’s right of substitution was fettered were rebuffed by the tribunal, which concluded that the agency had demanded personal service, but the client had not. More…
Engineering and IT contractors continue to dominate contractor demand league
Engineering and IT contractors were in first and second places respectively in the demand league of May’s Recruitment and Employment Confederation/KPMG Report on Jobs. Demand growth in both categories also continued to increase against a backdrop of slowing growth overall in the contract and temp’ sector. “The feedback from recruitment professionals confirms a real paradox in the current jobs market,” says REC Chief Executive Kevin Green, “namely, the ongoing challenge of finding suitable candidates in a number of sectors.” More…
HMRC reveals how its compliance centres target contractors for ‘compliance intervention’
HMRC has revealed in a notice to tax agents and advisers how its regional compliance centres target contractors it suspects of understating or omitting income. By comparing information received from third party sources with contractors’ tax return data, inspectors are able to undertake a risk assessment and order ‘a formal compliance intervention’, ie investigation. Four centres, in Newcastle, Bournemouth, Swansea and Carmarthen, were formed in 2010 and between them employ around 550 staff. More…
Oil and gas and engineering contractors could see ‘golden age’ of gas
Oil and gas and engineering contractors could be set to enjoy a ‘golden age’ of gas in which the fossil fuel and its extraction, transportation and refining will dominate the global energy scene. So says the International Energy Agency (IEA) in a new report. However, IEA warns that, although gas is the ‘cleanest’ of fossil fuels, it could result in slower uptake of low- and no-carbon alternatives, such as renewables and nuclear. Despite this reservation, IEA believes a rise in gas utilisation may drive an increase in the search for carbon capture and storage solutions, potentially offering further contracting opportunities. More…
More ‘green collar’ contracts could come to North West
‘Green collar’ contractors working in the renewables sector can look to the North East as a possible future source of new contracts, following the announcement by Siemens that it is to create up to 340 new engineering jobs in a new plant in Manchester. In addition to contracts arising directly from the construction of the new transmission equipment facility, it is likely that the resulting supply chain that emerges will offer yet more contracts. More…
Contractor limited company taxation has not improved since Coalition came to power
Contractor limited companies have not seen their tax burden reduced since the Coalition came to power, despite its promises to make the UK ‘business friendly’. According to the Institute of Directors (IoD), small to medium sized enterprises, including contractor limited companies, face real rates of taxation of between 32% and 43%, despite the headline corporation tax rate of 20%. And the IoD joins other business organisations in criticising the government’s windfall tax on the oil and gas sector, suggesting that “all this will do is crush the productive sectors of the economy which the government should be nurturing.” More…
HMRC legislation roadmap highlights the growth in new powers over contractors
HMRC has published a legislation roadmap that highlights all the new powers it can now apply to contractors. The “Review of HMRC’s Powers, Deterrents and Safeguards – Implementation of legislation and related work” details the huge creep in the taxman’s power to investigate and punish taxpayers, and shows that there are more to come for construction contractors in October. More…